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Every Shade of Grief

Chapter 21

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

“Hey, Frank... Do you think I could have another, eh... mirror?”

Michael had looked at him sheepishly and Frank had agreed though it had turned out to be easier said than done. After the mirror ‘incident’, Lucifer had banned all mirrors because the devil does nothing halfway, does he? But after a bit of haggling with Belios, Frank had eventually gotten his hands on a little pocket mirror.

It looks ridiculously small and feminine in Michael's hands but that doesn't stop the angel from staring into it, mesmerised by his own mirror image.

“Did you know Lucifer and I are mirror twins,” he speaks softly. “I'm the left to his right. The darkness to his light.” Michael caresses the cold hard surface of the mirror, his dark eyes filled with longing.

“I've never...” he hesitates and that's when Frank sees the first sign of tears.

“I’ve only ever seen Lucifer’s face in the mirror and I could never understand...” Michael touches his own cheek, poking it as if to check its authenticity. “We have the same face, but...” He chuckles, looking like he's about to shatter as the first mirror did. “I'm real, right? You see me?” Michael's eyes are gleaming, and his breath catches on a sob. He lightly traces the scar with his fingers, “I’ve never seen myself.”

He snaps the mirror shut and wipes his eyes. “They never wanted me, Father. I'm exactly the same and nobody wanted me...”

He looks down. “And I never knew why.”

Notes:

I want to give a bit of an explanation with this chapter.
They are mirror twins, meaning they are actually physically mirrored. Michael's left is Lucifer's right.
Michael sees his own face mirrored and so to him he looks truly identical to his twin. And the same goes for Lucifer of course. Even now, he sees Lucifer with a scar, not Michael with a scar.

Have you ever noticed how you can easily recognize yourself when your selfie cam is unmirrored, but it somehow looks weird? That's because you have only ever seen yourself in the mirror and in a mirror your face is flipped left to right. If you have never seen a photograph of yourself, you have never actually seen what you look like to the world.