The Cape Rouge, Port of Fandom, Saturday afternoon

[betterthanaplan]

Going from a warehouse in Haven to his own boat back in Fandom was a bit of a whiplash. It wasn't necessarily new -- the multiverse had always liked to yank Duke around -- but after everything he'd been through in the last not even 24 hours, it took him a little bit longer than usual to recover.

Oh fuck. He had so much to recover from.

He sat back, bumping against the booth bench, and took a second to breathe. Either Lucifer was God or he was still in Hell.

So much to recover from.

"Let's just. Not go anywhere for a couple days, yeah?"

[for the partners. YAY AFTERMATH!]

Comments

[my_own_advocate]

"Yes," Lucifer echoed. He stood in the middle of the galley, staring at nothing.

He sounded far-away.

Was he God now? Was that what he'd done? He didn't feel any different right now. Would he feel different--

[okteiviakom]

Octavia felt like she was going to be sick. Or like nothing was real. Or both. It was hard to say.

Literally, since she wasn't saying anything. The adrenaline was fading away, and there seemed to be nothing coming in to take its place, and there was an autopilot sort of way to how she made her way to the fridge.

Water. Water would be good.

[betterthanaplan]

She was mobile. That was a plus. Duke wasn’t sure if he was going to trust his legs yet.

“That — that all really happened, right?”

It was absurd. He died. After killing the thing behind the troubles. The thing that had —

His mind skittered away from that.

It was easier to think about being dead.

[my_own_advocate]

Duke's voice, at least, jogged something loose in Lucifer's feverisly-running internal monologue.

"Hm?"

Nothing profound, but... still.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia got her bottle of water out of the fridge.

She had no answer. She really wasn't sure, a part of her still stuck in the moment she'd spent alone with Duke's lifeless body.

[betterthanaplan]

“I fucking died,” Duke said. That made so much more sense when he was in Hell. “Haven actually fucking killed me.” He started to laugh. “And Nathan wasn’t even there!”

[my_own_advocate]

"Why--"

Lucifer shook his head, as if to rid himself of the last of his-- stupid pondering.

"Why would he be there?"

[okteiviakom]

Octavia could've asked the same question.

Instead, she turned to face them again, some of the question in her expression.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke couldn’t stop chuckling. “He said it once. When I was —“ He waved a vague hand that was somehow meant to mean “aging to death” “‘When you die I’ll kill you myself’ or something. And then —“ He laughed harder. “Then he got that fucking tattoo. . . .”

[my_own_advocate]

"Well, I can't say I hate dashing his low expectations," Lucifer muttered.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia was barely parsing any of that.

But the way Duke's uncontrollable laughter sounded drew her closer to him, like her free hand on his shoulder would do anything.

(Except suddenly make her wonder whether his chest hurt, whether he could feel the effects of the CPR.)

[betterthanaplan]

(He couldn’t. He remembered that feeling; it’d happened twice before. But when Lucifer brought him back, he’d fixed what killed him — and the smaller hurts like the CPR besides.)

“Fuck you, destiny!” Duke said, still laughing. He leaned into her touch, wondering if the laughter would give way into tears. He was feeling so much; he had no idea what might come out next.

[my_own_advocate]

And Lucifer watched them both, torn between his own worries and the joy in Duke's laugh.

He took in a deep breath. Let Octavia touch Duke, for now.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia hesitated for a second.

Then she slid into the booth, next to Duke, and carefully slid her arm around his shoulders.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke leaned into her, letting himself laugh. Letting the tears fall when they started l, too.

He’d sobbed on Lucifer on the couch in Hell. He’d been in Hell. Because he’d died. Because he’d cured the troubles. Because he’d been —

He didn’t know what was real anymore.

[my_own_advocate]

"Would anyone like a drink?"

Lucifer's hand was already on the liquor cabinet.

He was too emotionally exhausted to process anything, so. Booze.

[okteiviakom]

Listening to Duke, feeling him against her side, Octavia stared at the still unopened bottle of water she'd just set down on the table in front of her.

She should answer.

It was the least she could do.

(It was all she felt capable of doing.)

"No."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke could probably use one, actually. In the old fashioned “restorative after shock” kind of way.

He was a little busy still being hysterical against Octavia to ask for it, though.

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer sighed. "All right then."

He grabbed the scotch and a glass, and poured himself a healthy measure, which he slammed back immediately.

He filled it up again.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia just held on.

It didn't feel like it was doing anything. Everything here was just... too big for her to help.

Or to even comprehend.

[betterthanaplan]

None of them were really comprehending much of anything right now.

Duke’s laughter slowly tapered off, though the tears kept coming, silent and steady. He let them.

He was alive, he reminded himself again. He shied away from once again inventorying everything that had happened. It was too much, too big to wrap his head around.

(He was supposed to be a seagull. Or a fish. Instead he was just — himself again.)

“Pillow room,” he muttered eventually. “We should — pillow room.”

It was basically what the room was there for.

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer looked up. "Fair point," he allowed.

He was still holding the scotch.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia was still staring into the middle distance.

But she moved, slowly, pulling away from Duke to get back on her feet. Getting out of his way, too.

[betterthanaplan]

Oh. Miscalculation. Duke did not want her pulling away.

So he followed close after, possibly much too close. She was warm, and real, so much more than the facsimile he’d seen in his Hell loop.

(His Hell loop. He’d probably need to talk to her about that at some point. When talking was less likely to lead to more laughter or sobbing.)

[my_own_advocate]

For a moment, Lucifer just... watched them go.

Then something in him startled. A sense of reality.

He came walking after them with big, fast steps.