#hazbin hotel tarot | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

rainforestakiie · 19 days ago

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Tarot Love AU

hello everyone~

this is my new au. i really do hope you like it. i am aiming to have a part two, hopefully next week or the week afterward. i really hope this make sense, i loved it. it is a wonderland/card-themed sort of things? i really like my idea of it. it will get more drama in part 02, part 01 is more of, introducing you to this world.

Part 01 - Part 02

info:

 Spades (♠) – Wisdom, action, conflict, power. (Often associated with winter and the swords in tarot.)

 Hearts (♥) – Love, emotion, relationships, joy. (Tied to spring and emotions in general.)

 Diamonds (♦) – Wealth, work, material things, energy. (Linked to fall and practicality.)

 Clubs (♣) – Growth, creativity, willpower, achievement. (Connected to summer and ambition.)

 Spades (highest)

 Hearts

 Diamonds

 Clubs (lowest)

A searing fire raged in Adam’s chest, radiating from the small, one-eyed Sinner's cruel stab. His entire body pulsed with agony and numbness alike, a throbbing ache that somehow felt like nothing at all. Colours smeared across his vision, swirling together in waves of blue, gold, crimson, and green. A single bead of cold sweat slid down one side of his face, while on the other, something warm trickled, as if he were caught between frost and flame, he exhaled a shallow, broken breath, his throat raw and burning with a strange, haunting familiarity.

With a faint, almost sorrowful hiss between pale lips, Adam forced his heavy eyes open, expecting to see the waxy, bloodred deserts of Hell or, if fate was merciful, the shimmering clouds of Heaven, steeped in white and violet. Maybe Sera had descended to pull him from the jaws of death? Maybe Lute had dragged him back through the portal?

Maybe dying wasn't as terrifying as he had feared. A faraway bell tolled in his ears, a sound he knew, yet could not place, its echoes twisting through his rattling mind.

Adam flinched, long lashes trembling. He stirred slightly, feeling something soft, cool, almost damp, beneath him. His toes curled; his fingers twitched, the hairs on his arms rose as he shifted again, uncertain of the sensation beneath his skin.

He knew he had died. He remembered the blade sinking in during the battle at the cursed hotel, the tiny maid-Sinner slipping through the chaos to strike him down.

He remembered the weight of his extermination robes, thick, layered, and suffocating, a far cry from the pure white garments he once wore in the service of Heaven. Those robes had wrapped him tightly, hiding the shame of his mortal form, ever since the day he bit into the forbidden fruit, s shame that had never left him.

So... why, then, did he feel bare? Naked as the day the Angels first crafted him among the gardens?

Adam wriggled his feet, testing the sensation. No fabric clung to his legs; no robe shielded his body. His hands moved instinctively, brushing down his stomach, covering himself in modesty and yet... somehow, his hands remained motionless at his sides. He covered himself but he also didn't.

Confusion rippled through him, his brow furrowed as he pried his eyes open once more, blinking against the strange new light. Above him, pale branches wove a tangled canopy, the grass beneath him was soft and fragrant, sage-green and speckled with tiny yellow and pink blossoms that swayed in a breeze he could not feel. The sky above was a gentle blue, with clouds the colour of rosewater drifting lazily.

The sun... it was wrong, it looked more like a star, burning cold and distant.

Slowly, Adam sat up, shame gnawing at him even in this strange new world. His hands, or what he thought were his hands, covered himself in reflex but something was wrong, terribly wrong.

His hands weren’t moving... and yet, he was covering himself. His breath caught in his throat, his skin turned deathly pale, and horror widened his eyes.

He had four arms.

Four arms, four hands and twenty fingers.

A strangled, piercing shriek tore from his lips, scattering the peaceful birds from the trees. They fled in a rush of golden feathers, raining down like drops of sunlight.

Adam remained, trembling in the tall grass, staring at his foreign limbs with growing terror, he struggled to move them, fought to control the twitching of alien muscles. He rocked from side to side, attempting to rise, only to fall back again and again, stumbling, crawling, grappling with himself until he simply collapsed in the grass, dazed and frightened.

What had become of him? What had he become?

Dizziness spiralled through him like a storm and Adam stumbled forward, collapsing onto his knees in the soft grass. His body felt foreign, unfamiliar, a vessel no longer fully his own. Four arms twitched and trembled at his sides, but mercifully, only two legs carried his weight. Thank the stars, he thought faintly; he didn’t know how he would have endured four legs as well.

Breathing slowly, eyes squeezed shut, Adam fought to steady the frantic drumbeat of his heart. He listened, truly listened, letting the world speak to him, the wind hummed a soft, mournful tune as it weaved through the trees; birds flitted high above, their feathers whispering secrets into the air; the cool kiss of grass cradled his trembling skin.

Finally, with great effort, Adam peeled his eyes open and glanced down at himself, but the sight told him little. He was naked, bare and exposed as he had been once, long ago, in Eden’s embrace.

Eden?

A crease formed between Adam’s brows as his gaze swept the world around him. A desperate hope flickered in his chest. Had he returned? Had death, at long last, gifted him the impossible, a path back to where it all began?

Slowly, almost reverently, Adam shuffled forward on his knees. He reached out to the grass, the flowers, the towering trees, his upper arms stretched willingly, but the others...the others clung to him, wrapping protectively around his waist, trembling with the unspoken fear pulsing through him. Adam tried to ignore the phantom limbs, there were greater mysteries demanding his attention now.

His heart thundered in his chest, trembling on the cusp of hope and dread.

Was this Eden? Had he truly come home?

Could it be that all his whispered prayers, his silent weeping, his endless yearning had been answered at last?

He tried to stand, legs wobbling dangerously beneath him, joints cracking and popping in protest. Somehow, Adam found his balance and rose to his feet, eyes wide as they devoured the forest around him, his heart ached with longing, for his mother, for his garden, for forgiveness.

Had God, at last, taken pity on him? But... as he stood there, a slow and chilling realization began to weave its way through his thoughts.

This was not Eden.

He knew Eden with a lover's memory, every leaf, every petal, every breeze imprinted onto his soul. He had spent centuries retracing its beauty in his mind, living it over and over in dreams. But this place... this world... it was alien.

The forest shimmered with a strange, otherworldly light. The colours were deeper, richer, more haunting, shades of violet, indigo, and gold bled into one another, painting the trees and sky in hues no mortal tongue could name. The bark of the trees glowed faintly, pale silver-white shot through with opalescent veins, as though starlight itself had been woven into their skin.

The flowers were unlike any he had known. Adam knelt, breath hitching in wonder, reaching towards a bloom that should have been a red carnation. It smelled sweet and familiar, its petals soft against his fingertips, but the shape was wrong. Instead of the familiar frilled blossom, it curled upward into a strange, club-like form, heavy and otherworldly.

He looked around, seeing the same pattern everywhere. Every leaf, every blossom, even the rugged bark of the trees twisted into soft, club-like shapes. Strange stones littered the ground, tiny pebbles and larger rocks, all worn into the same unnatural curves.

Above him, a bird settled onto a low branch, its feathers a tapestry of gold and sapphire. Adam gasped softly; even the bird's wings bore those faint, ghostly club-shaped patterns, woven through the feathers like forgotten runes.

This was not Earth…this was not Heaven, and it most certainly was not Eden.

Adam’s breath trembled as he stood alone in the heart of this unknown garden, four trembling hands at his sides, staring into a world that should have been home... but was not.

What was this place?

Adam’s breath caught painfully in his throat as he staggered deeper into the alien woods. His wide, shimmering eyes darted from shape to shape, drinking in the unfamiliar, the impossible. Nothing was as it should have been.

The world unfolded around him like a broken reflection of home, beautiful, yes, but twisted and wrong in ways that gnawed at the edges of his mind. Trees stretched high into the endless pastel sky, their branches curling like skeletal fingers, flowers bloomed in impossible colours, breathing sweet, dizzying scents into the air.

Even the creatures, once a source of comfort and love to him, now seemed like strangers wearing familiar skins. Some were monstrous, ten times their natural size, cloaked in rippling fur the colour of jewels, club-shaped patterns etched in shimmering threads across their hides. Others had shrivelled down to almost nothing, tiny and fragile, blinking at him with too-many eyes, wings sprouted from beasts that should not fly, while others, who should have soared, dragged themselves along the ground, wingless and silent.

Adam glimpsed a horned horse, lazily sprawled in a meadow that glowed gold beneath the strange star-sun. The creature’s wings, wide and translucent, stirred the golden grasses, but Adam dared not approach. Something deep inside warned him to keep his distance.

Yet even as he stumbled forward, he felt eyes following him, when he glanced over his shoulder, he saw the creatures trailing after him, silent and slow, as if drawn by the scent of his fear, or perhaps by something deeper, a bond he couldn’t yet understand.

Anxious and trembling, Adam continued to wander through the haunting, dreamlike Eden. Every step felt like walking through a memory that was never his.

He tilted his face to the eerie sky. "Sera?" he called out, his voice thin and cracking.

No blinding light descended from the heavens. Only soft blue skies, pink-tinted clouds, and that strange star watched over him.

"Sera?" he shouted again, more desperately. "W-Where are you? Are you punishing me?"

But no answer came, no angelic voice, no divine whisper. Only the wind, rustling through the alien trees, responded, a sound that felt too much like a sigh of mourning. Adam’s skin prickled, every hair on his body standing rigid, he realized with a cold, creeping dread that he was utterly, devastatingly alone, this loneliness was deeper than anything he had ever known, more suffocating than the bitterest of his nightmares.

"I...I don't want to be alone," Adam whispered, his knees buckling beneath him.

He collapsed into the tall, breathing grass, lowering his head as warm tears blurred his vision.

This was no Eden; this was no home. It was a cruel imitation, a place stitched together from dreams and horrors alike. He sniffled, broken and small, he didn’t understand. His body had changed, warped with four arms, strange and monstrous.

That one-eyed Sinner had killed him. He had felt the blade, had felt the life bleed out of him. So how…how had he awoken here, in this wrong, twisted garden?

A sharp gasp tore from Adam’s lips as the ground trembled softly beside him, domething enormous had settled at his side. His skin crawled with dread as he dared to lift his tear-soaked face, blinking through his grief to see what had come to him.

It was a lion.

But not any lion he had ever known, this one was colossal, its body the size of a mortal bus, its muscles rippling beneath a coat of fur as dark as the endless void between stars. Its mane shimmered with tiny silver club patterns that pulsed and winked like distant constellations, the creature's golden eyes gazed at Adam with a depth of sadness, of ancient understanding, that struck him to his core.

Adam trembled, frozen, and then the lion moved, slow and deliberate, lowering its great head to nuzzle gently against his side. Its fur was impossibly warm, impossibly soft, like sinking into the night sky itself.

Something inside Adam cracked.

A broken sob escaped him as he leaned into the massive creature's warmth, burying his face into the thick, starlit mane. His four arms trembled, clutching handfuls of fur as wave after wave of grief and loneliness tore free from his chest.

The lion did not flinch, did not pull away, it stayed, anchoring him against the wild, cruel sea of his sorrow.

And for the first time in what felt like eternity, Adam allowed himself to weep, not as a sinner, not as an exile, not as an angel or even a human but as something small, something lost, cradled in the embrace of something just as strange, just as broken, as he was.

Adam didn’t know how long he remained like that, pressed against the endless warmth of the great black lion. Time itself seemed to drift and scatter like dust in the twilight air. He couldn’t even remember when his sobs had faded into trembling silence, his eyes burned, his body ached in strange, unfamiliar ways, as if something inside him was unfolding, growing, changing. There was a low, persistent buzzing between his shoulder blades, but he pushed the feeling away, too drained to care.

The wind here, soft and sweet, kissed his skin like a tender lover, calming him in a way he didn't understand but welcomed with a tired sigh. Adam closed his eyes, listening to the lion’s deep, soothing purrs, the sound throbbed through his bones, slow and rhythmic, massaging his wearied spirit until he nearly slipped into sleep but then the lion shifted, rumbling low in its chest, and Adam stirred with a sleepy groan. He rubbed the back of his hand against his sore eyes and blinked blearily around him.

He froze, all around him, nestled close in a loose, reverent circle, were creatures unlike any he had ever seen , creatures of myth and dreams, stitched together from the wildest fantasies of another world.

There were massive elk with branching antlers woven with silver vines, their hides painted in soft swirling blues and golds. Great birds with feathers like molten glass perched upon the twisted trees, their wings humming with club-shaped sigils that shimmered in the pastel light.

Tiny foxes with too many tails, some sprouting delicate, leaf-like appendages, darted playfully around heavier beasts, like bears with coats of soft lavender and luminous club-shaped patterns rippling across their thick hides.

Even serpents slithered among them, their scales glinting like precious stones, each eye a swirling pool of green and gold. Unicorns with wings, wolves with horns, hares with butterfly wings, all creatures seemingly stitched together from forgotten dreams and secret wishes and each bore the same strange mark, somewhere, in fur or feather or scale, the pattern of a club.

Adam blinked at them, heart trembling, a strange warmth pooling inside his chest. Maybe they hadn’t followed him out of fear, maybe they came because they cared for him…maybe they loved him.

The creatures began to lean forward, brushing past him with breathless grace, moving toward something just beyond where he sat. Adam tilted his head and gasped softly.

Before him was a lake, a glittering, crystal wonder that he had somehow not seen until now.

The water shimmered a pale lavender, reflecting the dreamy sky, and club-shaped lily pads drifted lazily across its surface, their dark green shadows dancing below. One by one, the animals dipped their muzzles into the cool water, drinking as if it were the sweetest nectar.

Swallowing hard, Adam shifted closer, crawling forward on hands and knees, all four of his hands brushing against the soft grass, until he reached the edge, tentatively, he reached out to touch the surface.

The water kissed his skin with a cool, delicious sweetness, no pain, no sting, just a soothing touch that sent a ripple of comfort through his aching body.

Slowly, Adam leaned over, peering into the rippling water as it stilled into a perfect mirror, he gasped.

It was his face and yet not.

His skin, once sun-kissed and golden, now held the soft olive glow of early summer, kissed by some unseen sunlight. His body was lean and slender, almost delicate compared to what it once was in Eden, he was smaller. His shoulders not as broad, his frame lighter.

And his cheeks…Adam reached up with trembling fingers, lightly tracing the faint shapes that adorned them. Club-shaped marks, soft and green, brushed like whispered kisses across his face, not harsh or sickly, but the gentle, vibrant green of life in full bloom.

His eyes, once sharp and narrow, were now larger, rounder, a mesmerizing blend of green and gold, his pupils shaped like tiny clubs. There was no sign of the wound that had once ended him, instead, a single green club-shaped mark rested over his heart, pulsing faintly as though alive but that wasn’t the most astonishing thing.

Sprouting from between his shoulder blades, lush and luminous, were two great wings, pure green, shaped like enormous clubs, patterned with faint veins of light that shimmered each time they shifted…the buzzing he’d felt, it was his wings.

His hair, too, had changed, soft brown strands threaded through with living club-shaped leaves and delicate red flowers, forming a crown that seemed to grow naturally from his head.

Adam trailed his gaze down to his limbs, his arms and legs were sprinkled with more of that summery green, vines and tiny blossoms curling gently around his wrists and ankles like living jewellery.

How had he not noticed all this before? How had he not felt how much he had become something… new?

"What..." he breathed, leaning back in pure shock, confusion swirling inside him like a storm. "What... is this?"

Suddenly, the forest shivered around him. A voice, loud, desperate, shattered the dreamlike stillness.

"Adam?!"

Adam flinched violently, his heart leaping into his throat. The animals around him whined, scattering like startled leaves, their graceful forms vanishing into the forest’s endless depths.

Only the black lion stayed, it remained steadfast by his side, its giant paws stretched forward, purring deeply, as if anchoring Adam to the earth.

Adam turned, crouching low behind the lion's massive body for shelter as another figure burst into the clearing, not walking, but flying, weaving urgently through the gnarled, club-blooming branches.

"Adam?" the voice cried again, familiar, beloved, but laced now with something raw and cracked. "Where are you? I heard you cry out! What happened?"

Adam’s breath hitched, his trembling hands gripping the lion's soft mane. Was this truly someone he knew or was it another dream stitched together by this strange, broken Eden?

Home, they had said…home but Adam wasn't sure what home even meant anymore, he wasn’t even himself anymore…

"Adam? Where are you?" the voice cried, raw and trembling with desperation. "Are you hurt? Did they harm you? I can heal you, please, just let me find you!"

The sound struck something deep inside Adam, familiar yet strange, like a half-forgotten lullaby. It was new and ancient all at once, close but distant, like a memory blurred by tears.

Slowly, hesitantly, Adam lifted himself onto his toes, peeking over the endless sea of black fur belonging to the midnight lion, even stretched tall, it was difficult, the lion was simply too large, too solid, but Adam managed a glimpse.

His heart pounded furiously in his chest, his club-shaped pupils dilating wide enough to hurt, that couldn’t be who he thought it was. It couldn’t be. It couldn’t.

"Adam!" the voice called again, and now he heard it clearly.

Adam stood frozen, his mind struggling to catch up, to make sense of what his eyes were seeing. Lucifer, but not Lucifer. A ghost and yet not a ghost, not the same stupid, traitorous angel who had stolen his life, who had torn Eden apart with his greedy, golden hands, who had taken everything from him.

Panic clawed up Adam's spine, he yelped, stumbling backward. His clumsy feet tangled together, and he tumbled onto the ground just as the figure rushed toward him, faster than a falling star.

"Adam! Ah, it’s you! It's really you!" the boy-shaped vision cried, radiant and wild, glowing with a light too beautiful to be real. He surged toward Adam without hesitation, not even noticing Adam’s frantic attempts to crawl away.

"You’ve come home, finally! You look, ah! Just as beautiful as I remember!"

"W-What?" Adam croaked, blinking rapidly as the short, brilliant figure closed in on him. His wings fumbled awkwardly against a tree, leaves shivering from the impact.

"I missed you," Lucifer whispered, breathless, cupping Adam’s cheeks in his cool hands. His thumbs brushed over the soft club-marks on Adam’s skin, reverent and gentle. "I missed you so much... Waiting for you nearly broke me."

Adam flinched, overwhelmed, but he never got the chance to answer. Lucifer leaned forward without warning, closing the distance between them and capturing Adam’s mouth in a desperate, trembling kiss.

The contact sent a jolt through Adam, not painful, but bright and bewildering, a sensation he had never known before. His wings flared wide without his permission, a sharp, electric buzz dancing along them, for a fleeting, horrifying moment, Adam nearly melted into it, into Lucifer's arms, into the starry pull of him but then something zapped along his wings, a jarring sting that snapped him back.

Lucifer. He was kissing Lucifer, the one who had betrayed him, who had shattered everything he loved.

A low growl ripped from Adam’s throat, he grabbed Lucifer's shoulders and shoved him back, forcing him to arm’s length.

"Adam?" Lucifer blinked, confusion clouding his bright blue eyes. "What's wrong? Didn't you miss me?"

Adam’s chest heaved, his lips tingling, his wings buzzing wildly, it was then he noticed, Lucifer’s wings had spread too, lining up perfectly with his own. The buzzing, the tremor in the air, it was between them. He didn’t know if he hated it... or if it terrified him even more that part of him liked it.

"What's happening?!" Adam cried out, voice cracking. "What the fuck is all this?!"

Lucifer's face twisted with worry, he held Adam’s face tenderly, refusing to let go.

"Adam... don't you recognize me?" he whispered, tilting his head like a lost child. "It’s me. Lucifer."

"I know who you are!" Adam snapped, trying again to wriggle away, but Lucifer only held him more carefully, as if Adam might break into pieces.

"And?" Lucifer asked, voice tight with fear.

"And…" Adam faltered, anger tangled with something else, something sad and heavy in his chest.

Lucifer’s wings stirred restlessly behind him, casting glimmering shadows. "Adam, don’t you remember?"

"Why would you kiss me?!" Adam demanded hoarsely. "After everything you did to me! After you ruined my life, after you stole everything from me! You hate me!"

Lucifer stared at him, stunned, as if Adam had struck him.

"Hate you?!" he gasped, as if the very idea was a wound. "Hate you? No, Adam, never, I love you, you idiot!"

Adam froze; the world seemed to tip sideways.

"Love?" Adam whispered, horrified. "You love me?"

Lucifer softened, inching closer, his eyes glowing like winter stars.

"Adam..." he said, voice low and aching. "Don’t you remember who I am? I’m Lucifer of Spades. Your mate."

Mate. Spades. The words hit Adam like falling stones.

He blinked hard, his body sagging against the tree behind him, trying desperately to breathe. Finally, finally, he really looked at Lucifer, he was the same... but changed, just like Adam.

Lucifer was still small and slight, with hair the colour of sunlight and duckling fluff but now his pale skin shimmered like stardust, touched by a faint dusting of soft winter blue along his arms and legs, as if kissed by frost, his arms, six now, three on each side, folded against his body like delicate wings of their own and on each of his cheeks bloomed a dark blue spade-shaped mark, glowing softly against the pale flush.

In his golden curls, tiny white specks glittered, not dust, not flowers, but tiny, perfect flakes of snow, crowning him like a winter king. Around his wrists and ankles were wreaths of white fur, threaded through with delicate frost flowers and crystal leaves. His wings…oh, his wings, stretched behind him in towering splendour, vast and silver-white, shaped like great shimmering spades, etched through with even tinier spade patterns beneath the surface.

Adam stared, heart pounding. "You’re..." Adam croaked, bewildered. "You’re cold."

Lucifer let out a soft laugh and sat back on his heels, giving Adam space at last.

"Of course," he said, smiling with a sad sort of fondness. "Spades are the winter evening. Just like you, Clubs, you are the summer dawn."

Adam squinted, trying desperately to piece together the fragments of sense in Lucifer’s words but everything slipped through his fingers like mist, nothing fit. Nothing felt real, this wasn't Lucifer... and yet, it was.

"Why are you naked?" Adam blurted out instead, the question falling from his lips before he could stop it.

Lucifer’s long white lashes fluttered like moth wings. "Naked? Adam..." he murmured, voice trailing off into the cold night air.

Before Adam could retreat, Lucifer leaned in closer, and Adam let out a startled, undignified yelp. His skin prickled, not with heat, but with an odd, unfamiliar sensation that made him fear he was flushing green instead of red. He pressed himself back against the rough bark of the tree, staring up at Lucifer warily, his chest tight with something he couldn't name.

"What-what are you doing?" Adam croaked, his voice cracking like brittle ice.

Lucifer narrowed his eyes, the bright spade-shaped pupils of frosted blue seeming to pierce straight through him, reading every broken, tangled thought in his head. Without warning, Lucifer moved, swift as a gust of winter wind, and before Adam could react, his hand was seized in Lucifer’s cool, firm grasp.

"Can you fly?" Lucifer demanded, urgent and intense.

"Fly?!" Adam yelped, jerking and squirming, but Lucifer’s fingers only tightened around his own. "What-what are you talking about?!"

Lucifer flicked a glance toward Adam’s back, toward the summer-green wings that trembled against the tree bark.

"Your wings," Lucifer said sharply. "Do you remember how to use them?"

Adam turned, awkwardly flexing the leafy club-shaped wings behind him. They opened and closed, slow and unsure, like the first uncertain flutter of a newborn butterfly.

"I..." He swallowed, heart thundering. "I remember how to use wings," he said at last.

It wasn't a lie, he remembered how to fly, with his old, golden angel wings. Surely these would work the same... wouldn't they?

Lucifer’s gaze darkened with doubt; he didn’t look convinced.

"Prove it," Lucifer said flatly.

"What?" Adam bristled. "Prove what?"

"Show me," Lucifer said, stepping back and folding all six of his arms over his chest, like a king waiting for a jester to amuse him. "Prove you still remember how to fly."

Adam scowled, folding his own arms petulantly across his chest. "Why should I?" he muttered, his voice thick with stubbornness.

But his defiance only seemed to frustrate Lucifer further, his lips twisted into a deeper frown, sharp teeth glinting like deadly icicles. His glacial eyes narrowed to slits, sharp and cutting.

Adam felt a ripple of unease crawl down his spine under that look. He took a clumsy step back.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Adam asked, voice small, the words barely a breath against the heavy air.

"You either prove you know how to use them," Lucifer snapped, his voice cutting through the hush of the forest like a blade, "Or I will carry you myself. It’s your choice, Adam."

Adam stared back at him, momentarily stunned, confused But then, slowly, something ugly and burning began to worm its way up from the pit of his chest. Anger.

Who the hell does he think he is?

This was Lucifer, the Lucifer. The angel who had once come down to Eden like a golden comet, dazzling and bright, a friend who had laughed and played with him among the gardens, who had dared the impossible alongside him, stirred up mischief beneath the other Angel’s blind eyes, his guardian Angel.

The same Lucifer who had shattered everything. Who had stolen Lilith away, whispering promises into her ear, who had seduced Eve with silvered lies, who had crushed Adam without a second thought, who had hurt Adam and made him cry as if their friendship meant nothing to him.

Lucifer, who had toppled humanity from grace and then had the gall to humiliate Adam before all of Hell, like he was nothing and now here he stood, demanding something of him? Threatening him?

Adam’s blood boiled and without thinking, Adam shoved Lucifer hard, making him stumble back a few steps.

"Buzz off!" Adam snarled, voice rising, venom dripping from every word. "I’m sick of seeing your face! I’m sick of hearing your voice! It's driving me crazy, it's disgusting!"

Lucifer’s eyes widened slightly, stunned by the outburst, but Adam wasn’t done.

"I don't owe you anything!" Adam shouted. His wings trembled with rage behind him, scattering leaves from the trees. "I’m not falling for your lies, your games, your tricks! Never again! You claim to love me but guess what! I don’t fucking love you and I never will!”

“So do us both a favour and fuck off!" His chest heaved. "Don't ever come back!"

Spitting the last words out like a curse, Adam spun on his heel and stormed away, fists clenched, heart pounding but his rejection only seemed to ignite something fierce and furious in Lucifer. A winter storm brewed behind him, his icy wings flared wide with a sharp, crackling sound, beating the air like the fury of a frozen hurricane.

"Adam!" Lucifer roared, his voice echoing through the trees like a wrathful god.

Adam turned, just in time to see Lucifer surging forward. His mouth fell open in shock, too slow to react, as Lucifer effortlessly swept him up off the ground, cradling him in his arms like a bride. Adam's legs kicked wildly in disbelief, his hands pushing uselessly at Lucifer’s hard shoulders.

"Put me down!" Adam barked, squirming furiously. "Put me the fuck down, you crazy idiot!"

Lucifer glared at him; teeth bared in a flash of sharp, icy white.

"Shut up for once," Lucifer snapped, "And let me help you!"

Adam barked a harsh, bitter laugh, struggling harder. "Help me?! Help me with what, huh?!" he shouted, thrashing. "I don't need anything from you, you damn frostbitten freak! I hate you! I really fucking hate you!”

Lucifer only rolled his eyes with theatrical exhaustion but said nothing. Adam was still wrestling to free himself, clawing at Lucifer's arms, when, without warning, the ground dropped away. Lucifer kicked off from the ground in one smooth, powerful leap, and the next thing Adam knew, they were airborne.

The world tilted beneath him, the trees shrinking, the silver-glass lake sparkling far below. Adam yelped in sheer terror, the fight leaving him instantly as he scrambled to cling onto Lucifer’s neck for dear life, all pride forgotten, his heart hammered like a trapped bird against his ribs.

Lucifer held him firmly, wings beating a steady, icy rhythm through the night, carrying them higher and higher. Adam buried his face against Lucifer’s shoulder, too terrified to even glare at him anymore, the scent of cold snow and winter stars filling his lungs and somewhere deep inside, despite the betrayal, despite the fury still coiled in his chest, something fragile and aching stirred, reaching out.

Lucifer flew with a grace Adam had never seen before, not like the rigid, sharp flapping of angel wings he remembered from Heaven, but something slower, softer...almost like a butterfly drifting through the endless sky.

Each beat of Lucifer’s massive winter wings was languid and fluid, carrying them higher, gliding as though the air itself bent lovingly around him. His wings shimmered with each movement, spade-shaped patterns glowing like constellations beneath the thin, icy membrane.

Adam couldn’t help but notice it immediately, how different it was, how wrong it was compared to the stiff military precision of angelic flight, but he refused to look at Lucifer’s face. He kept his gaze stubbornly turned away, pressing his lips into a thin line, instead, he risked glancing down and what he saw stole the very breath from his lungs.

The world below was... impossibly beautiful…and so much bigger then anything Adam had ever seen before…

It was as if the land itself had been torn into great jagged pieces, like paper ripped apart, and stitched back together again with threads of golden light. Each piece was its own kingdom, its own breathing world, stitched neatly beside the next.

Directly beneath them stretched the realm of Clubs, Adam’s own land, summer incarnate. Vast, endless emerald forests tangled together with ribbons of sapphire rivers, waterfalls as tall as mountains spilled down in silvery veils, feeding gardens bursting with life, animals roamed freely, glittering birds soared in flocks that painted the skies with colour, and golden sunlight bathed everything in a warm, living glow, it was wild, free, humming with the heartbeat of life itself.

Beyond that, stitched with a fine silver seam, lay Spades, the land of Winter…and Adam guessed that was where Lucifer came from or this Lucifer anyway. Snow stretched endlessly like a soft white ocean, a colossal castle sprawled across the icy fields, made entirely of gleaming crystal, reflecting a thousand broken rainbows. The mountains rose like frozen gods, crowned with sleeping dragons whose breaths curled into mist.

Gentle snowfall drifted down without end, catching on the black pine trees and glimmering like stars fallen to earth. It was haunting and beautiful, a land where silence itself seemed to sing.

Further off, through a weave of sunshine and laughter, bloomed the realm of Hearts, the land of Spring. Rolling meadows sprawled beneath a sky so blue it ached to look at, fields of pink and golden flowers danced in the breeze, their petals spinning like tiny dancers, yellow-bricked roads twisted through cheerful little villages, where elf-like people bustled about, laughter ringing in the air.

Witches in patchwork cloaks zipped across the skies on crooked brooms, trailed by black cats, some with tiny wings, others with twisting horns peeking from their furry heads. The scent of fresh earth and honeyed air was so vivid Adam swore he could taste it.

And finally, stitched along the edge of a fiery crimson horizon, loomed Diamonds, the land of Autumn. A kingdom roared with life and motion, its cobbled streets shining like polished amber. The city buzzed with strange creature-people, fox-eared merchants shouting over glittering market stalls, women with eyes like fireflies laughing over gilded bridges, great hounds with antlers prowling beside knights in rust-red armour.

The scent of roasted chestnuts and gold hung in the air, as if the very air itself was rich, towering above it all was a palace carved from marble the colour of fallen leaves, crowned inspires of gold that caught the setting sun and made it seem ablaze.

Adam gasped aloud, unable to hold it back, his wings twitched against Lucifer’s chest, his heart thudding wildly. He had never seen anything like it, not even Eden, for all its perfection, had looked so heartbreakingly, achingly alive.

For a moment, Adam forgot his rage, his fear, his pride. Forgot the man, Angel or whatever Lucifer had become, holding him aloft, he could only stare, his eyes wide and shining with wonder.

Lucifer descended with a grace that defied the laws of nature, his wings barely stirring the air as they glided toward the shimmering land of Autumn, the realm of Diamonds. Adam felt a stir of curiosity deep within him, his eyes flicking over the figures below. These beings were unlike anything he had ever seen, not human, but something more. Their gazes turned toward the sky, fixed on him and Lucifer, and Adam caught the expressions that flitted across their faces: awe, wonder, and even excitement. The children gasped, their tiny hands pointing eagerly in their direction.

But Adam could barely take it all in before Lucifer’s wings, vast and powerful, cut through the air once more, guiding them toward a towering mansion at the heart of the kingdom. The structure rose like a jagged, opulent spire, sparkling with diamonds embedded in its walls, the light dancing off its faceted surface. At the top of this monumental edifice was a wide platform, open to the sky. It was a palace, yet something about its design had the warmth of a mansion, intimate yet grand. Around it, an imposing fence rose high, guarded by figures dressed in gleaming silver armor etched with diamond patterns, standing watch like silent sentinels.

Lucifer passed effortlessly over them, touching down with barely a sound on the platform that led to an archway, its shape an elegant, perfect diamond. Adam squinted, his eyes narrowing in confusion. Diamond?

“Diamond?” Lucifer’s voice was soft but insistent, as he stepped toward the archway. “Are you there? I need your help, Lils.”

Adam blinked rapidly, the name catching him off guard. Lils? His throat tightened. What was happening? He swallowed, a heavy lump forming there, as a figure appeared in the archway, stepping from the shadows, a presence as inevitable as the coming of dusk. Adam recoiled instinctively, his wings fluttering, a frantic surge of anger rising in him.

“Put me down!” he cried out, his voice sharp, breaking through the air like a whip.

In one swift motion, he wrenched himself free from Lucifer’s hold. His body fell, landing hard on the cold stone below. He barely had time to regain his balance before he jerked away, his chest tight with something between fury and fear.

Lucifer stood still, his arms still outstretched, frozen in shock, as if he couldn’t believe what had just happened. Adam hissed, baring his teeth, his body tensed and ready to flee.

The figure who approached them, slow and deliberate, cast a long shadow across the ground. It was her.

Lilith.

Adam’s heart pounded in his chest. Lilith, the one who had once been his, and who had shattered everything he thought he knew about love, trust, and betrayal. The woman who had hurt him more than anyone else, the one who had run away with Lucifer without a second thought, leaving him broken and alone, his blood boiled at the sight of her.

She was just as breathtaking as she had always been, but in a different way now, something darker, more powerful. Her long hair was no longer the gold he remembered; it had deepened into a smoky orange, streaked with pale gold, like embers glowing in the fading light. Tiny, delicate golden leaves were woven through her hair, shimmering like whispers of autumn itself, her crown of flowers had been replaced with an intricate garland of sticks and pearls, each bead gleaming with the glow of distant stars.

Her wings were vast, larger than Adam’s, smaller than Lucifer’s, curling elegantly like autumn leaves caught in a gentle breeze. The colours danced along their edges: rich purples, oranges, and golds, interspersed with diamonds that glinted and sparkled, her skin shimmered as though it had been kissed by moonlight, streaked with faint, glowing diamonds that traced the lines of her arms and legs like delicate jewellery.

Her eyes were a deep, haunting mix of gold and violet, with diamond-shaped pupils that seemed to pierce through Adam’s very soul, she stood taller than both Adam and Lucifer, an ethereal figure, impossibly beautiful, but with an air of dominance that made Adam feel small and vulnerable. She gazed at him with a quiet intensity, as though trying to decipher a puzzle, each moment spent in her presence like the unravelling of something precious, fragile.

Adam’s instincts screamed at him to look away, to hide, to run from her piercing gaze, but he couldn’t. She was naked, as he and Lucifer were, and yet in her presence, the rawness of their vulnerability only deepened the bitter resentment and sadness he felt.

Why? he thought, a fire of hatred burning in his chest. Why would Lucifer bring me to her?

“Something’s wrong with him,” Lucifer muttered harshly, his voice thick with frustration, his six arms crossing over his chest, his eyes were dark with a kind of bitterness Adam hadn’t seen before.

Lilith tilted her head slightly, her lips parting in a soft hum. Her gaze never wavered from Adam, and she slowly approached him, moving with an almost hypnotic fluidity, she knelt down before him, her movements elegant, yet relentless.

Adam instinctively tried to pull away, inching back, his wings flapping in panic. “Don’t touch me!” he hissed, his voice laced with panic and disgust.

But Lilith’s hand shot out with an effortless grace, her fingers cool and unyielding as she caught his chin, lifting his face to meet her gaze.

“He doesn’t remember?” she asked, her voice soft, almost concerned.

Lucifer snarled, stepping forward, his form looming like a storm cloud. “No. He doesn’t!” His voice was tight, raw. “He’s not supposed to come back like this, Lilith, he’s supposed to remember me.”

“I know,” she murmured, her voice almost distant, Lilith blinked slowly, her expression unreadable, her wings flickering gently behind her. “He was meant to return in the same state he was taken.”

“I told you not to make that deal, Lilith. Now look at what’s happened. He doesn’t even remember who he is. He’s in his real body, but his mind…” He trailed off, exhaling sharply, defeated, Lucifer’s frustration boiled over, his hands clenching into fists.

Lilith sighed, the weight of the moment settling over her like a cloud. Her autumn wings fluttered behind her, delicate but powerful.

“They wanted to use a soul,” she said, her voice taking on a softer edge. “To give humanity a soul.”

Lucifer’s eyes gleamed with anger. “No, they wanted to cut corners, instead of creating a soul, building one as they should have, they chose to steal one of the Omega souls. You shouldn’t have agreed to it, Lilith. You didn’t care about the consequences; all you wanted was what you could gain from it.”

“It benefited us all.” Lilith’s gaze flicked briefly to Lucifer, a subtle frown pulling at her lips. “It benefited you, Lucifer.”

“No, it only benefited you,” Lucifer laughed, but the sound was bitter, mocking. “Diamonds never care about anyone but yourselves. It’s always about what you can take, never who you step on to get what you want.”

Lilith’s expression tightened, a flash of anger in her eyes, but she didn’t move. “Adam agreed to it,” she said, her tone firm. “This is not all my fault.”

“Yes, it is.” Lucifer’s icy blue gaze locked on her, his words cutting deep. “He only agreed because you talked him into it, Lilith, you made him believe it was a good idea.”

Lilith narrowed her eyes, a glimmer of amusement, or perhaps something darker, flickering within them.

"It was a good idea, Lucifer. A brilliant idea, in fact," she said softly, her tone almost too calm, too knowing. "We gained so much from the Avatar."

"No, you gained, you gained everything by handing Adam over to the Avatars, using him, experimenting on him, turning him into a human, for what? So, their little project can grow? So, these so-called humans can take form?" He threw his hands up in frustration, Lucifer scoffed, his voice laced with contempt. "What a load of bollocks."

Lilith’s eyes narrowed further, as if she’d been down this road with Lucifer countless times before.

"Spade," she began, her voice dripping with something cold yet strangely affectionate, "You are the soul of wisdom, of action, of conflict, and of power. Do you truly not see the benefits of their humans? At all?"

Lucifer shot her a disbelieving look. "Have you not seen that shit show? Have you not seen what’s happened over there?"

He gestured sharply toward the distant horizon, as if the human world itself was an affront to everything they were. "I know for a fact Eve, Hearts, they’ve been watching. We all have since the Avatars took Clubs. You’ve been watching too, it’s falling apart, the so-called human souls are at war with themselves, give it another century or so, and all of humanity will have killed itself."

Adam flinched, the words striking him like a slap, confusion flashing across his face. He shuffled backward on his backside, drawing his legs closer to himself as he tried to make sense of the strange exchange.

Avatars? What were they talking about? The way Lucifer spoke about humanity... it was dripping with bitterness, as if the very idea of humans disgusted him. What did he mean by Lilith giving the Avatars him?

She gave them Clubs? To borrow his soul for the humans? She had called him, Clubs…

Adam stared, his mind racing as Lilith and Lucifer continued their argument. It was like watching two people who could barely tolerate each other, there was no trace of warmth or affection between them, none of the love or bond one might expect between a married couple but… Lilith had left him for Lucifer, hadn’t she? She had chosen Lucifer, followed him to Hell, had a daughter with him… Adam blinked slowly, feeling a strange weight in his chest as his thoughts began to tangle together.

“Why…?”

He breathed out, his voice cutting through the heated argument, making the two of them pause, their attention turning to him.

"Why are you two arguing so much?" His voice wavered, soft and uncertain. "Don’t you... like, er, love each other? You’re married, with a kid and all that... I thought you’d be... er, happy to see each other?"

Adam winced, feeling foolish as soon as the words left his mouth. The way they stared at him, as if he’d just grown another head, made him feel small, like he was intruding on something much larger than he could comprehend.

Lucifer’s face darkened, and he shot Lilith a sharp, accusing glare.

Lilith merely rolled her eyes, brushing a hand dismissively through the air as if Adam’s question was of no consequence. "He’s confused."

"Clearly! He still has those human memories!" Lucifer bristled, his voice grew sharper, his frustration mounting. "He shouldn’t have them anymore!"

Lilith crossed her six arms in front of her, her posture casual, but her expression betraying a quiet irritation. "I’m aware, Lucifer. Your little tantrum made that quite obvious."

Lucifer’s icy wings beat against the air, sending a sudden chill across the space. Adam gasped as a layer of frost began to form along the floor, creeping like a slow tide. He jerked back instinctively, trying to avoid the ice that was spreading rapidly beneath him.

"Tantrum?!" Lucifer’s voice rose in anger, his teeth bared. "I’m not throwing a tantrum!"

His voice was a growl now, guttural and raw. "The Avatars' little pet project was doomed before they even took Adam’s soul, and it’s worse that they used our likeness to manipulate him! You saw what they did to him, used our faces, they mimicked our souls! They twisted him like a doll."

Lilith’s gaze flicked briefly to the spreading ice; her expression cool, unfazed. "Yes, Lucifer. They asked permission, and I gave it."

"You what?!" Lucifer’s voice cracked with disbelief. "Why would you do that?!"

“Because they had failed three times before.” Lilith regarded him with a long, steady stare, her gaze unreadable. "The soul of Clubs represents birth, life, creation, it wasn’t planting the seeds like they had hoped.”

“They were trying one last time to have Clubs react as they wanted.” She spoke calmly. “They suspected if they were able to mimic our likeness and project it onto their humans, it might help ease the soul of Clubs into its new vessel, so to speak."

Lucifer’s face twisted with disgust. "They made the first human ‘wife’ look like you."

"I have no such connections, and so, it meant nothing to me." Lilith shrugged nonchalantly, as if it was nothing. “I am no mate of Clubs and Clubs have no desire to mate with me either.”

Lucifer’s eyes narrowed in fury. "Hearts agreed to have her likeness used for the second wife human?" His voice was thick with anger.

"I know," Lilith replied casually, almost bored. "It is no concern of mine."

"The Avatars requested permission to use our likeness, and I granted it," she continued, her tone smooth, like she was recounting some trivial matter. "It worked. The soul of Clubs birthed the humans they desired so much."

Lucifer’s hands clenched into fists, his nails digging into his palms. "And my likeness was used to create someone who hurt him. Clubs is my mate, my lifetime partner. Why wouldn’t they just mimic my likeness to make the human husband or wife? That would have probably worked better!"

"The Avatars spoke of a new biology, something about man and woman.” Lilith rolled her shoulders in an exaggerated motion, her expression a mix of indifference and mild amusement. Our biology doesn’t follow, as humans, neither Clubs nor Spade would have been able to breed."

She tilted her head slightly, watching Lucifer’s frustration grow. "Why are you so upset, Lucifer? The Avatars made you one of the most powerful beings in their little project. They called you an Angel, or an Archangel, they say that is very powerful. It’s still in line with you, as Spade is on top, being more powerful than Diamonds, Hearts, and Clubs."

Lucifer hissed, his teeth flashing in a snarl. "They didn’t even make that clone a lover to him! They made him hurt him! We’ve already bred and that wasn’t right!"

“Yes, your precious egg.” Lilith clicked her tongue, eyes glinted with something like amusement, but there was no kindness in it. "It has no hatched yet, calm down, you still have time.”

Lucifer’s fury grew, his wings beginning to churn with icy winds. “How dare you.”

"You are being so dramatic, Spade," Lilith continued, almost lazily. "You have your precious Club back. He has been returned as the Avatars promised, once he died, he would be released from their project and returned to his true body. He has come back to you, hasn’t he?"

Lucifer glared at her with a dark, bitter intensity. "Not all of him has come back."

"Be grateful you have him back at all." Lilith regarded him with an unimpressed gaze, as if his words meant little.

Adam touched the side of his head, he could feel the begin of a headache starting. He was just so confused.

~#~

Adam was exhausted, adrift in a sea of confusion, his head pounding so fiercely it turned his stomach. His club-shaped wings fluttered restlessly behind him, opening wide like a great, fragile butterfly, only to fold again like a book shutting against his spine, again and again they stirred, restless, unsettled.

He had returned, no, been returned, to what Lucifer called the Land of Clubs, his forest. A realm that seemed the very heart of summer itself: lush, radiant, brimming with life, the breath of Mother Nature thickened every corner, a symphony of green and gold, of flowers and beasts, all belonging to the Clubs. And he, somehow, was their King, or Queen, depending on what tide he chose to sail, it was all so dizzyingly strange.

Adam leaned heavily against the broad trunk of an ancient tree, its soft branches cradling his weary head. Stretching out his legs before him, he stared down at his toes, before raising his four hands to his face, watching as delicate flowers and vines wove themselves around his wrists, blooming from his very being.

He didn’t know what to feel, everything was too raw, too loud, too overwhelming. Why? How?

Lilith, the true Lilith, was apparently the Soul of Diamonds, and it was she who had struck a deal with the Avatars, surrendering the Soul of Clubs for their great experiment, for the birth of humanity.

Adam squeezed his eyes shut, remembering the human Lilith, how he had tried to love her, to bridge a gap he could never quite cross. She had found him clingy, smothering, too heavy a chain and yet he had only ever been... lost but that Lilith was never truly Lilith. Just a reflection, a whisper of the real Queen of Diamonds, shaped by unseen hands to nudge him along a path he never chose.

Even Eve, sweet Eve, was born of the same deception, not merely crafted out of loneliness when Lilith fled, but shaped in the likeness of another: the Queen of Hearts. All of it, all of it, had been a cruel, elaborate stage play.

Adam groaned lowly, burying his face beneath his four hands, the movement still foreign but becoming easier now, even his body was strange to him. The flood of truth churned in his mind, dragging him into a whirlpool of questions.

Who was he, truly? Why could he remember his human life but not the one before? Was he ever anything more than a pawn?

"Adam?"

The voice came from above, soft but resonant, pulling Adam from the hurricane of his thoughts. Lucifer had come again. Adam lowered his hands slowly, fingers digging into his skin as he peered up and there he was, Lucifer Morningstar, if that was even his name anymore.

Lucifer was... different here, not the tempter, not the king of Hell, but something older, something truer. His mate, apparently, his mirror, the Spade to his Club.

Lucifer’s massive, spade-shaped wings shimmered as he landed lightly before Adam, scattering tiny flurries of frost like silver dust, his blue eyes glowed faintly as he tilted his head, surveying Adam with a small, crooked smile.

"Good morning... or evening? I’m never quite sure what humans call this hour," he said warmly. "How are you feeling, Adam?"

"I don't remember anything," Adam answered bluntly, eyeing Lucifer warily, part of him still expected this all to shatter, to reveal itself as some cruel joke.

Lucifer’s smile faltered slightly, a flicker of pain passing through his eyes before he masked it. Gently, he crouched down to Adam’s level, folding his legs beneath him with an effortless grace.

"I'm not asking you to," he said, voice as soft as the snow drifting from his wings.

"Right," Adam muttered, drawing his hands away as Lucifer reached for them. "Sounds about right."

Lucifer sighed, a low, almost sorrowful sound. "I know it’s overwhelming. I know it’s hard."

"You know? You really think you know?" Adam gave a sharp, humourless laugh.

Lucifer's lips curled into a faint, crooked smile. "More than you realize. I wasn't lying when I said we watched, I saw what the Avatars did to you... we all did."

Adam stared at him, something wounded flickering behind his gaze, he bit his bottom lip, uncertain, wary.

"Then... what are you saying?"

Lucifer shifted closer, the snow around him whispering against the ground. His voice dropped lower, more intimate.

"I saw it. I saw what happened in Eden," he murmured.

Adam stiffened at the name of his lost garden, his hands clenching.

"I saw what they made of you... what they made of me." Lucifer glanced aside, troubled. "It wasn't really me, Adam. It was... a shadow, a shell of who I truly am, twisted to guide you down the path they needed."

He shook his head slowly, snow cascading from his wings like fallen stars. "Lilith, Eve... even the serpent... none of it was what you thought it was, they were echoes. Ghosts, built from our faces to shape you."

Adam listened, heart pounding hard enough that he could barely breathe. This Lucifer... there was something heartbreakingly real about him. His voice slid through Adam’s ears like velvet, sweet and aching.

"I... think I understand," Adam whispered hoarsely. "No, not really but... you’re not him. You're not the Lucifer I remember."

Lucifer’s gaze softened, like mist parting for the dawn. "I would never have hurt you," he said fiercely, reaching for Adam again, this time, Adam let him.

Lucifer’s six hands enfolded his four, the last set of hands cupping Adam’s cheeks so tenderly it almost broke him.

"I saw what that version of me did," Lucifer whispered, anguish threading his voice. "I saw the betrayal, the lies, I don't know why he did it. But I am sorry, because he was shaped in my image... because of how deeply you loved me."

Adam’s breath caught. Loved him? Had he?

Lucifer traced slow, feather-light circles over the spade-shaped marks on Adam’s cheeks.

"He was made because of me," Lucifer continued softly. "And because of how much you loved me, they knew you'd follow him."

Adam’s heart was a drum in his chest, frantic and unsure. Was he falling in love again? Was it real? He barely heard his own voice as he asked, "Are we... truly in love?"

Lucifer smiled sadly. "We are more than that, Adam, we are bonded. We are the endless cycle of life itself, you are Summer, growth, life, birth and I am Winter, rest, death, renewal. You and I... we complete each other."

"I don't remember, I don't... remember anything before Eden.” Adam sniffled, overwhelmed, lowering his gaze. “I don't remember being the Soul of Clubs."

Lucifer’s smile faltered into a quiet, pained frown. "You weren't supposed to forget, when the Avatars were done... you were supposed to come home, whole."

"When you died, you should have returned to me," Lucifer whispered, voice trembling. "You should have remembered."

Adam hiccupped, the tears finally spilling over. "You don't understand. You don't get it."

He squeezed his eyes shut, his whole-body trembling. "None of it was real. None of it. Eden, Lilith, Eve... even me. It was all just a lie, a tool."

Lucifer moved closer, arms wrapping around Adam as though to shield him from the truth. "No, no, Adam, listen to me," he pleaded. "You are real, you were always real. They used you, yes, but that doesn't mean you were any less important. You are the heart of life itself, the Soul of Clubs."

But Adam couldn't stop crying, because if all this was true, if everything he had known was a carefully orchestrated lie, then who was he, really? Nothing more than a seed, planted for someone else's harvest.

Lucifer said nothing at first, he only moved, slow and sure, wrapping his arms around Adam. His embrace was warm despite the shimmer of frost that clung to his skin, with a heavy sigh, Lucifer’s massive spade-shaped wings unfolded behind him, dark and glistening like velvet night skies dusted with starlight. They opened wide, curling protectively around Adam, and in answer, Adam's own club-shaped wings twitched and slowly spread, as if drawn to the rhythm of Lucifer’s heart.

A soft gasp escaped Adam's lips, he tilted his head back, his watery green eyes meeting Lucifer’s glowing blue ones just as a shimmer of life danced between their wings, little flickers of green and blue arcing and weaving like tiny spirits, threading them together. Their wings pulsed, alive, resonating like the chords of a forgotten song.

Lucifer smiled, his expression tender and heartbreakingly soft. He lifted one hand, his thumb caressing the tear-streaked flush of Adam’s cheek, he leaned in, his voice no more than a warm whisper in the hush between them.

"See?" he breathed. "You feel that? It's our wings... they match up perfectly. That proves we're meant to be together."

Adam's chest tightened; more tears spilled over, his heart too full and too broken at once. He nodded weakly, unable to speak, and with a choked sob, he pushed his face into the curve of Lucifer's shoulder. Lucifer’s arms tightened, pulling him closer, until no space was left between them. He stayed that way, patient and steady, rocking Adam gently in the silence of the forest, his wings wrapped around them both like a cathedral.

Lucifer only spoke again when Adam’s tears had slowed into soft sniffles. His voice was low, soothing, careful as a kiss.

"I know you don’t trust me... not fully," he murmured. "And you have every right to be suspicious. It’s a lot to ask... to believe the Lilith and Eve you knew weren’t truly them, I know it hurts."

He paused, pressing a soft kiss into Adam’s hair. "Dimond and Hearts were first... they were part of us long before mankind was even a thought, and they loved you, at least, Hearts did." He gave a soft, almost sad chuckle. "Dimond... well, I don't think she's capable of loving anyone but herself."

Lucifer pulled back slightly, enough to catch Adam’s glassy gaze, his eyes burned with sincerity, clear as winter lakes.

"But me?" he whispered. "I love you. I adore you more than anything in all the realms, you were never just a tool to me, Adam, you are... everything."

Adam’s throat worked silently, he didn’t know what to say, but he clutched at Lucifer’s arms tighter, like he was afraid he might disappear if he let go.

"I know," Lucifer went on gently, "it’ll take time to separate the two Lucifers in your heart. The one you remember... and me. The real me, the one who has always loved you, long before Eden... long before even the stars were born."

He pulled Adam's four trembling hands into his own, cradling them like they were the most precious things in all existence.

"Just... trust me a little," Lucifer whispered. "Come with me, come see my home, the land of Spades, visit the Castle."

Adam sniffled, rubbing at his sore eyes, he looked up uncertainly. "The Ice Castle?" he asked hoarsely.

"Yes, our castle…” Lucifer's face lit up with a dazzling grin, so bright it made the frosted leaves around them sparkle, he nodded eagerly. “Your castle too, if you want it."

He rose fluidly to his feet, his black wings stretching even wider, scattering snowflakes from their tips, still holding Adam’s hands, he gently urged him up as well. Adam stumbled slightly, unsteady in this strange new body, but Lucifer steadied him with a hand on his lower back.

Lucifer winked playfully, the old mischief glinting in his otherworldly gaze. "I’ll even teach you how to use your wings properly again, how to really fly."

Adam gave a small, broken laugh, the first real laugh he had managed since arriving in this new, overwhelming world. He looked at his club-shaped wings, feeling them shiver in the cool air, feeling the thrum where they touched Lucifer's own.

"I... I miss flying," Adam admitted softly, almost shyly.

Lucifer's smile turned tender again.

"Then let’s get you back to the sky, my summer prince," he said, voice like a promise, wrapping Adam's hands up in his own as they stood beneath the pale sunlight, surrounded by falling snow and the silent, humming heartbeat of two souls reuniting.

~#~

"Alright," Lucifer beamed, his skin shimmering like frost spun from the first breath of winter. "You open them... like this."

Adam stared, eyebrows lifting high into the soft wildness of his honey-and-oak hair. He watched, entranced, as Lucifer’s great spade-shaped wings unfurled with effortless grace, opening like the petals of some rare, midnight flower, they gleamed, each feather catching the light like shards of enchanted ice.

Adam chewed his bottom lip, his green eyes narrowing in concentration, he turned his focus inward, to the warmth buzzing faintly across his back. He willed his own wings to open, but instead they jerked awkwardly, knocking against his shoulders before snapping shut again with a sharp, embarrassed snap.

"Ah," Lucifer blinked, wide-eyed, his lips twitching with the effort of stifling laughter. "It's alright, truly. Just try again, slowly, carefully, focus on the fluttering under your skin, right here," he murmured, stepping closer.

Lucifer’s six hands moved in delicate unison, the tips of his fingers ghosting up Adam's arms in a touch so light it barely stirred the air.

"It feels like that..." he whispered.

"Oh..." Adam breathed.

Adam swallowed hard as goosebumps prickled across his skin where Lucifer had touched him, he rubbed his arms where the sensation lingered, like the fading brush of butterfly wings, so it would feel like that, the fluttering, under his shoulder blades?

Drawing a slow breath, Adam closed his eyes, he tried, tried so hard, to ignore the heavy weight of Lucifer’s stare. The Lucifer from Before had watched him, yes, but not like this, not with this raw, searing focus that made Adam’s chest tighten and his heart stutter, this Lucifer drank him in shamelessly, like Adam was the only thing in existence.

He would just have to...deal with it, he turned his mind inward, seeking that elusive flutter...

"I don't feel it," Adam whispered, his voice wobbling. His lips trembled, beginning to tilt downward.

Don't cry, don't cry, he begged himself. He was tired of tears. "I can't find it."

Lucifer blinked slowly, like an owl regarding something precious and fragile. He tilted his head with aching softness, his sweet blue lips parting, he smiled, a small, tender thing, and rose up onto the tips of his toes, leaning in close.

Adam’s breath caught sharply. Lucifer was so near that their lips nearly brushed, separated by a mere breath of space. He could feel Lucifer’s cool breath fanning over his own trembling mouth, and he blushed, not red, but green, the colour of fresh shoots after rain.

Lucifer purred warmly, his voice like velvet. "Turn around for me, Addie~"

"W-What?" Adam stammered, shivering.

"Turn around," Lucifer repeated, his voice a teasing lilt, twirling a finger in a lazy spiral. "Please~"

Swallowing hard, Adam turned, the tips of his ears burning green. He desperately hoped Lucifer hadn't seen how his skin had changed colour, but of course, Lucifer had seen everything.

Lucifer’s heart softened further. How he loved Adam, more than words could ever carry. He closed his eyes for a fleeting moment, his long white lashes fluttering like snow moths, before opening them again to drink in the sight of him, his gaze wandered reverently down the elegant slope of Adam’s spine, lingering a little too long on the soft curve of his backside.

Lucifer stepped closer, his very presence exuding the cold hush of winter, Adam gasped when he felt it, trembling. Lucifer grinned and leaned in, purposefully blowing a stream of icy air along the nape of Adam’s neck.

"W-What are you doing?" Adam squeaked, beginning to turn back around.

"No, stay," Lucifer murmured.

Two sets of hands gently anchored Adam’s hips, while another pair curled over his shoulders, steadying him, the final pair skimmed down his back, tracing the tender slope of his spine.

Adam stiffened, green eyes wide as saucers. Six hands... touching him all at once... it was, it was a lot.

Don't think about it, don't think about it, he told himself feverishly. Focus on anything else...

Lucifer’s breath was a whisper against his skin. "That fluttering I spoke of," he said, his voice dripping like honey into Adam’s ears, "It’s right here..."

His fingertips slid with maddening softness along Adam’s back, stopping just beneath his shoulder blades, with a careful, deliberate touch, he pressed.

A startled gasp ripped from Adam’s throat, his face flushed an even deeper green as his club-shaped wings jerked open and fluttered wildly, out of control.

Lucifer chuckled, a low, delighted sound, and repeated the motion, tracing gentle circles beneath Adam’s wing bones. His lower hands still held Adam’s hips steady, squeezing and stroking with quiet possessiveness, grounding him as his wings continued to tremble and unfurl.

Adam’s breath came in shaky little gasps, his whole body thrumming under Lucifer’s many careful touches, it was overwhelming, terrifying, and yet impossibly sweet.

"Okay?" Lucifer purred, rising onto the tips of his toes once more, he leaned in, his breath cool as winter mist as he deliberately blew along the curve of Adam's neck, making him shiver.

"You feel it now, don't you? That fluttering," he whispered, voice like velvet. "Your wings are stirring, even if you can't control them yet, you should feel the tension, the strain right here, just beneath the bone. That soft flutter I told you about."

Adam nodded dumbly, his voice catching. "Y-Yeah, um..."

Lucifer tilted his head, trying to catch a glimpse of Adam’s face. With a playful gleam in his eye, he reached out and gently pinched the tender space under Adam’s wing bone and Adam let out a startled, broken whine.

"Please stop," Adam gasped, covering his face with both hands. "It feels too..."

"Unhuman," Lucifer finished smoothly, chuckling as he withdrew his hands and stepped back, far too pleased with himself, he adored Adam's reactions, they were so wonderfully, painfully familiar. "You wouldn’t have felt anything like that in the Avatars' domain."

Adam's knees gave a soft buckle as he turned shakily to face Lucifer again. Peeking through his fingers, his green eyes wide, he rasped, "Did... did we used to do that a lot?"

"Hmm," Lucifer hummed, the sound thick with affection. A dreamy, almost starry smile curled his lips. "All the time, we're mated, Adam. We did things far more intimate than just that."

Adam shuddered, fighting the urge to crumple into himself. His heart thudded unsteadily, and he opened his mouth, then closed it again, managing only a soft, helpless little noise as he scrubbed his hands over his burning face.

He had never felt anything like that before, the thought gnawed at him: What other... things did being mated mean?

Lucifer’s voice softened, coaxing him gently. "Can you feel the flutter now?" he asked, his own cheeks dusted with a shy, faint blush, the urge to kiss Adam, to claim him all over again, sang through Lucifer’s veins, but he held himself back, barely.

"Fluttering..." Adam echoed weakly.

Yes…yes, he could feel it now. A delicate, alien sensation thrumming under his shoulder blades, over bones and muscles he never remembered having when he was human, strange new parts of himself, awakening.

"That's perfect!" Lucifer beamed, pure joy lighting up his face, two of his hands reached out, tender, insistent, and hooked around Adam’s wrists, gently pulling his hands away from his face.

"Don’t hide from me, my heart," he murmured. "I love seeing you. Every look, every little expression you make, they make me happier than you can imagine."

Adam bit the inside of his lip hard, holding back another whimper, the instinct to curl inwards, to vanish, clawed at him but somehow, somehow, he resisted it this time.

"O-Okay... fine," he stammered, voice shaking, he took a trembling breath, forcing himself to meet Lucifer’s shining, patient eyes. "W-What... what do we do now?"

"Good," Lucifer purred, his voice dipping lower, softer, brushing against Adam’s ears like velvet mist. "Now, come closer," he coaxed, the pads of his fingers, six hands, six ghost-light touches, resting warmly against Adam’s bare skin.

Adam shivered as Lucifer’s hands found his hips again, gently coaxing him forward, guiding him closer until their bodies almost touched. The space between them thinned, until even breath would have been enough to bridge it.

"Bring your hips to mine," Lucifer whispered, a glimmer of mischief sparkling in his frozen blue eyes. "Line up with me... just like that. Good boy~"

Adam’s breath hitched sharply, the cold sweetness of winter curling against his skin, making it pebble with goosebumps. His heart thudded wildly against his ribs, loud enough he feared Lucifer could hear it.

Lucifer smiled, oh, he knew exactly what he was doing and leaned in closer still, murmuring like a prayer against Adam's lips.

"Now arch your back... shoulders back, hips forward. Feel it, feel how your body knows this, even if your mind protests."

Adam’s green eyes widened, trembling like leaves kissed by a storm. A faint blush, that tell-tale flush of green, dusted his cheeks and the flowers braided into his honey-oak hair quivered, shy and unsure. Yet, when he obeyed, arching just as Lucifer instructed, that fluttering inside him unfurled wider, stronger, until it felt like a pulse beneath his skin, under his bones.

Lucifer’s own vast, spade-shaped wings opened and folded with slow, deliberate grace in front of them. He tilted his head, a silent signal, and Adam clumsily mirrored him, his smaller club-shaped wings twitching and stuttering in their motion.

"Good," Lucifer praised, voice dripping with pride and sweetness, he bent his legs slightly, brushing his knees against Adam’s, knocking them together with playful intimacy. "Bend your knees, press down with the balls of your feet... then spring, light as a whisper, up onto your toes."

Adam swallowed thickly, his whole body alive with nerves, with the whisper of power flickering under his skin, his knees bent, his heels lifted, and when he sprung up onto the tips of his toes, just as Lucifer said, his wings shuddered, gliding back and forth without him even thinking.

"Don't fight the flutter," Lucifer cooed, slipping even closer. "Let your body follow it, not your mind. It’s supposed to feel..."

He chuckled, low and wicked, seeing Adam’s growing blush. "That good."

Adam’s face flamed greener still, the flowers in his hair shuddering violently. He wanted to argue, wanted to claim Lucifer was teasing him, but when he followed the sensation, surrendering to it, his club-shaped wings lifted him tenderly from the ground.

A startled gasp tore from his lips as his toes left the earth, his body trembling with the strange thrill of floating, his eyes widened, glowing faintly, their green shining with disbelief.

Lucifer stayed below him, his six hands lifted gently upward, hovering close, ready to catch him if he faltered, his wings shifted slowly, a soothing rhythm in the air, as he watched Adam sway above him.

"That's it, Adam," he encouraged, his voice warm and bright with pride. "You're doing it~"

Adam hovered unsteadily, swaying in the open air like a petal caught on the breeze, a gasp shuddered out of him when he felt himself starting to dip downward, tipping headfirst, but before fear could snatch him, Lucifer caught one of his hands firmly.

Lucifer’s wings beat once, powerful and slow, lifting himself upward alongside Adam with no effort at all.

"You're okay," Lucifer soothed, pressing his forehead gently against Adam’s, their skin met in a cool, tender kiss, the world around them briefly shrinking down to just the two of them, suspended together in the frozen stillness of the sky.

"Don't let your brain trick you," Lucifer murmured against his skin. "The only way you’ll fall is if you think you will."

Adam’s green eyes widened even more, his breath escaping in a soft, broken laugh, half panic, half awe.

Lucifer giggled, a sound so sweet, so full of life, and fluttered his wings playfully, circling Adam in the air. Adam clumsily twisted to follow, and for a moment, they spun together like two butterflies tangled in a slow, dreamy dance.

High above the ground, between breaths and heartbeats, a new bond wove itself tighter between them, unseen but unbreakable.

"I really do love you, Adam."

Adam shyly looked away...

#hazbin hotel #adamsapple #lucifer x adam #fanfic #guitarduck #fanficiton #au #adam x lucifer #Tarot Love #Tarot Love AU

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