Michael stood on the lawn of Lucifer’s home. Small bushes with roses that were the color of blood, surrounded the front entrance. He stared up to closed doors which had iron spikes lined on them, in an equal pattern. These doors were dark oak and were big, demanding attention to their style. He looked at his sidekicks to make sure they were alright.

They weren’t. He saw nervous sifting of feet and heads down, as cloaks covered them. He was frightened of what was on the other side of the door. Would Lucifer welcome them ever so charming or with a knife out?

Lucifer did invite them over for dinner, which was suspicious, also asking Michael to invite any sidekick he wished.

Michael knew too well this was a trap they were walking in too. But what if he was wrong? Michael doubted, and Lucifer invited them to catch up on life. He took a step forward and ready himself to make a knock. He quickly turned to his sidekicks, “You’re okay?” he asked softly.

Three heads shook up and down.

Michael held his head high and banged his fist three times. The time for waiting for the door was three seconds beats. During those three seconds, Michael knew that Lucifer already knew they were there, he was waiting for them to make their arrival noticed.

The door swung open and Michael saw a flash of red eyes into an eerie darkness. Silence hung there for a few minutes and the figure stepped out, “Well, hello brother.”

Michael felt one of his friends go stiff, but he smiled, a heartwarming smile, “Lucifer. It’s been a long time!”

Lucifer drew a flash of a smirk, “Indeed.” He motioned his hands for them to come in, “Who did you bring?”

Michael stepped in, his mind already racing and he prepared himself for an attack in this darkness. Lights flashed open and Michael jumped, almost forming a sword before him. But what he saw was an empty ballroom, a chandelier sparkling above them, and Lucifer’s friends standing on the platform above the stairs, their eyes flickering back and forth of the hooded figures below them.

Lucifer chuckled, “No need to be jumpy.” He ambled past his brother. He already guessed what was in one of those hooded cloaks, what wasn’t sure with the other two, “Nice to meet you again, Katerina,” his voice a dry tone.

Kate brought her hood down, revealing combed hair and golden earrings. She was stunning as the lights radiated off of her, her eyes looking like lost gems. She didn’t reply, crossing her arms, telling him that she didn’t want to be there which was written all over her body tone.

The next person who was beside Kate took down their hood, blue crystal eyes shining back at Lucifer and his friends. Raphael, one of the most high-ranking archangels stood there before them. His piercing eyes took in every one of Lucifer’s friends. “Nice to meet you again, Lucifer,” Raphael nodded in a respective tone.

Lucifer answered stiffly, wasn’t expecting to see him along Michael’s side, “You too.”

The shortest hero walked in front of them, her pale arms shaking as she uncovered her face. Sara looked at Lucifer, Elena, Caliber, and Jackson. She chuckled and waved awkwardly, “Hi.”

They all stared back at her and Elena laughed, “Sara! No fucking way!” She burst into laughter and Michael looked at Sara in confusion.

“You know them?” he asked, his eyes darting back and forth.

Sara laughed uncomfortably, “I bumped into them at Macy’s.” She unbuttoned the cloak and it dropped to the floor, revealing the Gothic dress. She smiled warmly now, “They helped me pick out the dress to wear here”

Lucifer stared down at her and blinked. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He meet her at the clothing store and didn’t even bother to check her out as if she was a hero or not. She certainly didn’t have any powers, or he would’ve sensed it. She looked like any human. But yet here she was, with Michael, looking embarrassingly at her boss.

All Lucifer could muster out, “Nice to meet you again, Sara.”

Kate stared dead at her friend and shook her head, “You didn’t even bother to tell us that you bumped into him?”

Sara answered defensively, “I didn’t know he was the Devil!”

Michael put his hands out between them, “Girls, enough.” He shot a look at his daughter and turned back around. “You don’t mind if we put their cloaks up in the closet?”

Lucifer shrugged, “I don’t care.”

Michael picked up Sara’s cloak, and without warning, Sara grabbed Michael, her eyes full of fear as she glanced at Lucifer, Lucifer looked like he wanted to murder her. She wanted to whisper something to his ear but knew better than not to.

Michael wanted to yank away from Sara, he knew that Lucifer was judging everything of what they did, but if he did so, the betrayal on Sara’s face would tell Lucifer more than if Michael took his hand away.

Lucifer would know for certain that Sara wasn’t just a close friend, but extremely closer than the rest of them and he would use that to his advantage.

They walked up the golden stairs, swirls of golden supported the railings. Jackson opened the door and Elena jarred open the closet, letting the door bang against the wall without much care. She grabbed a hanger and started to hang each of the cloaks that were given to her. She locked eyes friendly with Sara, who immediately turned away, her face flushing.

Michael said, cutting the tension in the air, “So, what’s for dinner?”

Lucifer answered, casually as he could with some tightness in his voice like a guitar needed to be strung, “Shrimp and grits with vegetables and wine.”

Michael inquired, “What kind of wine?”

“A Cabernet.”

Sara said, randomly without thinking much of it, trying to make a peaceful conversation, “Mr. Morning-star, those pants you tried on, you did look nice in them.” She wanted to add: "And you looked gay in those pants." She let a smirk pass her face.

Kate, Raphael, and Michael stared at him dumbfounded. Michael mouthed Sara’s name at her, wondering why the heck she came with that and what that grin was about.

Sara looked down as if she was a dog about to be smacked.

Lucifer looked at the situation, read it quickly without much notice, and said, “Thank you, Sara.” He walked down the hallways and into a split hallway, going down there and opening a door into the dining room. “Please, come in. No need for formality.” His eyes darkened and nearly spat the words out, “We are brothers, after all, Michael.”

They entered the room and saw white plates trimmed with golden rims around them and clear wine glassed with descriptive grapes imprinted golden on them and golden rims on the bottom of the stands.

Lucifer sat down at the head of the table, while on the right side his friends sat down, and on the left, where the heroes positioned themselves in the dark oak chairs.

Vera came out and poured each glass with Cabernet. She did a slight bow before leaving to finish up the supper.

Kate looked at the wine with much suspicion and sniffed it.

“It’s not poisoned, Katerina,” Lucifer said, already finishing half his glass.

Michael shrugged and tasted, savoring the taste, “Not bad at all.”

Sara stared at the glass as if it had radiated energy blobbing out.

Michael raised a fork, looking at it, “You can have the wine, Sara.”

Sara poked a finger in the wine and took a small sip. She hide her face of disgust not so well and smiled, “Amazing wine.”

Kate sighed, unwrapping the napkin and putting it on her lap, “Sara, he knows if you are lying or not.”

Sara went bright red and started to fidget on the napkin she had put on her lap already.

Lucifer studied Sara and then Kate. He looked at Raphael at the farthest end of the heroes, “So, why did you come Raphael?”

Raphael was expecting this question and he replied, “I wanted to come here to representative Michael and who we are,” he nodded towards the girls, “And so did they.”

Sara added, “I wanted to try out the food.”

The heroes looked at their friends again with rolling eyes.

Lucifer tried not to laugh, “Our food is exquisite.”

Sara slumped her shoulders, “Yeah, the food at the headquarters is bland.”

Michael shot her a look and she looked back down at her lap. He flattened down his white coat. His silk white shirt was smooth to the touch and Michael’s white pants were long slacks that matched the color of the shining shoes. He took another sip of the wine, “So, brother, let's cut to the chase. Why did you invite us?”

Lucifer stared back at Michael’s golden eyes and he answered with a much more dramatic tone, “I wanted to see what you up to. It’s been a while since the last time we met.”

Michael held his head higher and replied, “I have a feeling you stretching the truth.”

Kate said, spinning the knife downwards with her hand on the table, a silent threat. She said coarsely, “You wanted to catch up or something?”

Elena spat out, “Katerina, be respectful to him please.”

Kate dropped the knife down, letting it clatter on the floor, “He killed my family!” Kate shot up angrily, slamming her fist against the table, a booming sound echoed through the dining room.

Lucifer didn’t even flinch and nearly smirked, “I just killed your parents.”

Kate tightened her jaw and wanted so badly to throw her fists and connect them to his stupid face of his and make it ugly. Burn his face—

Michael said, sternly, “Katerina, sit back down.”

Kate huffed and sat down, crossing her arms tightly, not even looking at anyone.

At that moment, Vera went out with a tray of food and more wine. She put down the food on the table and poured more wine which was needed. “If there is anything you want, just call me out.” She said cheerfully and closed the kitchen door behind her.

Sara took no time digging in the food, nor did Jackson and Caliber. She took a mouthful of the shrimps and grits. Her eyes rolled behind her head, “This is so good, Mr. Morning-star!”

Despite the hardship in the air, Lucifer smiled, “Go thank, Vera.”

Raphael served himself and so did next Michael. Michael gave a glare to Kate and she severed a small amount to herself.

Michael picked up vegetables with a tong and put them on Sara’s plate, “Eat them.”

Sara puffed out her hair from her face, “Fine.”

Lucifer sipped his wine, “So how old are you, Sara?” He guessed she was around eighteen.

Sara shoved the vegetable into her mouth, “Fifteen.”

Raphael smiled and winked at her, “About to turn sixteen too.”

“She needs to grow up,” muttered Kate.

Sara looked at her friend hurt and stared down at her plate of food, tears about to flood down her face.

Michael gave a hard stare at Kate.

Lucifer said, “I think you are pretty grown-up.” He laughed and felt so old as he said with a sigh, “Don’t want to get old. It’s a trap. Getting old is disappointing.” He paused on the thought. He was really old, yet he looked in his early thirties. He winked at Sara and put the wine glass to his mouth, “No matter what age you are, I know you will be beautiful.”

Michael couldn’t help but beam proudly, but was silent.

Sara sniffed. She nodded to Kate. She knew that Kate was uptight and that she was grumpy. She shoved more food in her mouth, “You are beautiful too.”

Silence took over them for a few seconds and the villains burst into laughter.

Lucifer chuckled dryly, “Thank you.”

Sara blurted out, “Are you gay?”

Elena, Caliber, and Jackson went bright red and burst into harder laughter, “Oh fuck, Lucifer. Even she thinks you are.”

“Sara,” Michael sighed, shaking his head and rubbing his temple.

“What?” Sara asked, looking confused, “I am just asking if he is gay.”

Lucifer’s friends burst into a fit of giggles.

Archangel Raphael even did a small laugh.

After another few minutes of silence, Sara chimed in, “He didn’t deny it,” she said thoughtfully.

Michael buried his face into his hands, “Sara, please, quiet. You are embarrassing us.”

Sara went hot pink again, “Oh, sorry Mr. Morning-star.” She wanted to somehow disappear in her chair.

Lucifer drained his wine. He put the glass down, everyone waiting for his response. He shook his head in a gleeful tone, “For your information everyone, I am not interested in any gender and not looking. Not have, never well.”

Kate smirked in a snarky tone, “Never is a long time...Mr. Morning-star.”

Sara jerked her head up and flung up with much unexceptionally, “I need to use the bathroom.” Her voice was tight and urgent.

Everyone turned their heads to see what she was upset about.

Sara glanced at Michael, those eyes sending a message to him. “I need to use the bathroom.”

Lucifer nodded to Elena, “Go show her.”

Elena and Sara left the dining room.

“Is she okay?” Lucifer asked, curiously, studying his worried face from Raphael.

Michael chuckled, “She’s fine.”But there was a look of uncertainty on his face.

Lucifer pretended to dismiss this and slowly started eating. A thought came to him and he asked with no idea why, “I’ve heard, from rumors. There is this hero that hallucinates.” He shrugged, “I thought that was strange. Heard it from an angel actually at a bar, just rumbling on, he was quite drunk.”

Michael frowned. Please don’t be who I think it is.

“His name is John,” sighed Lucifer, “I hear he is quite a troublemaker and spreads rumors like wildfire, but it is interesting to hear stories about him. He claims that this hero hallucinates about this particular guy. He talks to her and no one else can see him, besides the hero. And, even the angels and the heroes’ warlocks tried to help to see what the hero saw—but no matter what they did, they never saw anything. Rumors have it, something traumatic happened to the hero.”

The heroes sat quiet and their faces tried to read blank to them.

Michael saw Kate glanced at him with pressed lips. She leaned back in her chair and took a swallow of the expensive wine.

“Well,” Michael began, forming thoughts in his head, “Funny you say that—”

Raphael nudged him and shook his head, glaring at him.

Michael sighed, “Raphael, I wasn’t going to tell him.” He turned to Lucifer, “Just say, it’s not your business.”

Lucifer didn’t smirk, it was the opposite. He raised his fork and took another bite.

Michael expected his brother to press it, but instead, Lucifer said, “What have you been doing all these years, Michael?”

Michael looked down at the food and his thoughts went to Sara. He took a few bites of the grits and shrimps. He said, avoiding Lucifer’s eyes, muttering, “Been busy.”

Lucifer sighed loudly, making his irritation obvious, “With?”

Michael hesitated and answered a little quickly, knowing that Lucifer could not only know who was lying by his powers but could observe Michael’s littlest upset. Even Michael couldn’t escape from his brother’s observations, “Been helping my people out...I am making a family.” He cut his sentence short, didn’t want to further what he didn’t have to say.

His brother picked up his empty wine, twirling it around, his thinking face on but not hidden, “I see.”

“You?” said Michael, interested in what Lucifer had been up to all these years. He saw Caliber and Jackson give glances to Lucifer, seeming to also wait for the response as eager as Michael.

Lucifer put down his cup, glaring at Michael, “Mourning.”

Michael mentally sucked in a breath. He knew Lucifer would bring this up.

“Why did she go to you?” Lucifer asked, his voice soft but with a hint of anger. He didn’t look at Michael as he asked, but his eyes were distant, in deep thought.

Michael felt the question hit like a stab. He felt himself get dizzy and grabbed his hands together, squeezing them tightly. He felt Raphael looking at him and Kate looking down at her fingers. He stood up, the chair skidding back, the only noise in the silence-filled room, “I need to check on Sara. She is taking a long time.”

Lucifer muttered under his breath, “Coward.”

Michael snapped up at Lucifer, “Lucifer, it has been years since our sister died. Get over yourself. Move on.” He stormed out of the room, expecting Lucifer to shout back at him, but he was silent. Michael shook his head in tiredness. He was so sick of this countess of this behavior from his brother. Lucifer needed to move, to focus on something else. Michael didn’t want to think of this much further as he felt his insides twist.

He saw Elena leaning against the wall, waiting for Sara to finish in the bathroom. Michael used his knuckles to knock softly on the dark oak door, “Sara, you’re okay?”

Sara flung the door too fast, it slamming on the wall, nearly smacking Michael's face, “Yeah, I’m fine,” she grumbled, shoving past him, glaring at him as she walked by. “Just wonderful.”

Michael watched her walk, her back stiff, her head down in some kind of frustration, and her fists tightly squeezed together. He sighed. Usually, she doesn’t get mad unless…

Elena walked behind Michael and they went back to the dining room. Sara slumped back down, crossing her arms in a pout. Michael would’ve corrected her poster during dinner, but kept his mouth shut and eyes watchful.

Michael wouldn’t go all the way to check on this girl if she didn’t mean anything to him. He would’ve sent Kate to check on her. He wouldn’t personally go to that length. Unless of course, he wanted to dodge the question.

Lucifer pondered all of this until Elena, Sara, and Michael sat back down in silence. He and everyone else at the table finished their dinners in blissful silence. There were some glances, but as Vera cleared the table, Lucifer stood up and offered, “Would you like to sit in the living room?”

The heroes nodded and they were ushered down the hallway and into the spacious living room, with a stoned fireplace, rugged carpet, and a table set aside with an unfinished puzzle.

Sara went to the unfinished puzzle and started to already click in pieces. Jackson and Kate followed, sitting down, Jackson switching on a light to see better.

Lucifer poured down a drink in his glass and offered it to Michael, but knew he would decline. He sipped. He placed his drink down and said, “I guess it was wrong of me to invite you guys. I don’t know what I was hoping for out of this.”

Kate remarked, staring down at the pieces, “Maybe to kill us?”

Michael gave her a look of disapproval, “It’s nice to see you, Lucifer.” He was glad to see his bother, but wish to see him in a better state of mind. “I am not sure if you agree with me, but it has been so long.” He expected Lucifer to comment about their sister and prepared himself, but Lucifer just stared at his half-drunken glass.

He glanced up around the room, feeling a chill in the room. The lights flickered off. Chairs were scooting back and some were shouting: “What the hell is going on?” Jackson exclaimed.

There was a loud lump.

The lighted flickered back on. Michael was unconscious on the floor, blood running down his nose.

Jackson, Elena, and Kate stared at Lucifer, Kate already accusing him with her glare. Caliber looked down at Michael, already observing every aspect of what the Archangel’s body told him: stiff from surprise, but there was no struggle.

Raphael was looking worriedly at Sara, who burst into tears.

She fell to her knees, tears coming down her face. Everyone’s gaze went to her. She said hysterically, “I didn’t mean to.” She cried and her pale face was pink from being flushed. Her body shook as she cried over Michael, “I didn’t mean to!”

Kate looked at her friend in horror and demanded, “Sara, what do you mean? Did you hit him?” She sat down next to Sara, Raphael on the other side, looking down at Michael now.

“I told him I didn’t want to and then he—” Sara sobbed, burning her face in her hands. “I told him I didn’t want to. It’s my fault. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to!”

“Sara, what the fuck are you talking about?” Kate hissed, staring at her to get some sense of what she was talking about.

Sara shook her head. She glared up at Lucifer, “Fine, I’ll do it.” She whipped a dagger underneath her dress skirt and stood up, angry. But not at Lucifer, who stared at her in confusion.

Caliber, Jackson, and Elena were fast on their feet, but Michael moaned and Sara fell back to the ground, the dagger dropping to the rug, “Dad!” She grabbed him by the shoulder and threw herself over him, hugging him, “I’m sorry.”

“Sara,” Michael asked, blinking in confusion about how he has gotten on the floor, “What happened?”

Sara didn’t answer, sobbing, her arms still wrapped around him as Michael sat up, feeling at his head, that there was a bump—as if someone hit him hard with something. He touched the bottom of his nose, feeling the trickle of blood. Michael slowly got up to his feet, Sara trying to help him up, wiping her teary face.

Michael walked dizzily and sat down, “It felt as if someone hit me with something.” He glanced at his brother, who was standing there, looking around the room if someone else was there. His eyes looked down at Sara, who was sniffing on the couch next to Michael.

The Archangel turned to Sara, “Explain.”

Sara barely looked at him as she was crying in her hands, she wanted to spit out, “It was him. He told me…” but she bite down on her tongue and knew better. She didn’t want her father to worry about her. He worried about saving the world, she couldn’t be a distraction

She saw the look on Michael’s face, “Sara, what’s wrong?”

Sara shot him an angry look, “It’s nothing.”

Michael glared at her, his golden eyes shining on her with much suspiciousness, “So you just hit me?”

Sara whimpered, trying somehow to dodge the looks from everyone else in the room and answer a question, a lie through her teeth without Michael knowing she was fibbing, “I didn’t hit you!”

Michael groaned and rubbed his temple, seeing Sara’s scarred face, and knew she would never. “Sara, it’s okay. I know you would never.” But he felt that she was hiding something back and in his guts, something was seriously wrong, but he knew his daughter would tell him if so. Sara’s eyes started to get wet and Michael sighed, “It’s not your fault honey, I know it isn’t.” He hugged her tightly and ignored the questioning look from Lucifer.