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Chapter Text

Paperwork is boring. Rosie groans and takes her hat off to set it on the hat stand next to her desk. It’s been a stressful few days where the Lures discovered an underground smuggling ring for weapons (that was her responsibility, thank you), and Rapacity had a mafia-overturn that led to Rosie having to step in and put her foot down. She controlled the mafia and anyone who thought otherwise would face her heel. 

“Rosie?” 

Rosie looks up from the paper she’s been staring at for five minutes and sees Dany in her doorway. Honestly, the best thing to come about the OTHER mess in her life was that she had actual people who would listen . Dany being one of them. Dany was also competent. A double-sided blessing.

Dany has not come fully into the room, she’s just poking her head in, and Rosie purses her lips. The only time Dany does not come fully into her office is when she has bad news. Rosie doesn’t like it.

“Yes, Dany?”

With a twitch, Dany clears her throat. “Meur is here.”

Fuck. 

Rosie taps at her desk with a pen. “Did they say why?”

Dany snorts. “Rosie.”

“Right. Right.” Rosie stands up and brushes off her skirts. “Where did you put them?”

“Seeing as most of the windows face a certain something, the library.” Dany hops to keep up with Rosie’s long stride. “I’ll be putting in a new request for supplies soon. Did you need anything, Ma’am?”

Ma’am. Dany had known her for years and still Rosie gets ma’am. One day Rosie would get SOMEONE in her life that didn’t defer to her and would actually speak their mind. Dany was the closest person she had right now. Unfortunately. She needed more people like Dany.

The library is a comfortable and warm space. Rosie hoards books like she hoards many things, including sharp minds and sharper weapons, so the library has grown with time. It’s a sprawling maze that goes up three stories and back farther than the eye can see. When Lucifer visits, the first thing he does is check to see if she’s gotten a new book.

She hopes he visits again soon. She misses him. She misses his smile, the way his eyes glitter, and she misses seeing him happy. The last time she saw him he’d been falling apart. Cracking open and bleeding with heartbreak… and she hadn’t even been allowed to help. 

He needs to get out of Pride. If just for a few weeks.

Right! Dany asked a question and then didn’t poke when Rosie didn’t answer. Rosie spins on a heel and puts her hands on her hips. “Why didn’t you remind me to answer your question?”

Dany blinks. “Ma’am? I figured you didn’t have an answer.”

One day. One day, Rosie would get Dany to snap. Just to break the ice. Just to make it so Dany was less likely to say ”‘ma’am”. “If you see any new books, grab them for me. Otherwise, just check in with Bart and Paul to see if they needed anything new. They’re responsible enough to know what their districts need.”

With a nod, Dany is gone. 

One day.

Rosie spins back to the library and heads to the shadows. Meur never sits by the fireplace. They prefer many things, and shadows are one of them. She pauses in the darkest part of the library and summons her ottoman in a swirl of green. It pops into existence as she sits. They will come out as soon as she’s comf--

“Good to see an old friend.” Meur’s voice comes from behind her and she sighs. They can get Lucifer with that trick, but Rosie’s in the seat of her power. She’s everywhere. In the ground, the sky, the building, so if she was ever surprised it would be from a gross lack of attention on her part. “Old friend is family. And family sticks together. Hiding, old friend?”

Shit. Rosie gives a fake laugh as she spins to see Meur emerge from the shadows. Meur is an old family friend, a shark with eyes that pierce into Rosie’s very core, and they know far more than they should about every person Rosie has ever met. “Hiding? Me? I would never.”

Meur hums. 

“I might be hiding something.” Rosie waves a hand. “But when am I not? You know me, old friend. Can’t help it! Part of the job.”

“Lures take care of family.” Meur whispers and takes a few steps closer. “Why hide, old friend?”

The shadows flicker around them. They twirl around Meur’s legs, whispering agreement with Meur’s observations. The traitors. 

“You’ll tell Lucifer.” Rosie whispers and looks away. There’s a fallen book that she can focus on instead of Meur’s eyes. “He has enough to deal with.”

Meur tilts their head in her peripherals. “Old friend thinks too little of Lures. Secrets are kept. Old friend is family.”

Rosie snorts. “Lucifer is also your family.”

“Show Meur your secret.” Meur nods. “Will not tell old friend. Secret between us.”

Rosie stands and crosses her arms. Her ottoman disappears with a flash of gold and green as she leans towards Meur. “You’ll have to promise. Last time you said that and then Lucifer found out.”

Meur smiles so wide all their teeth show and they press a hand to their chest (they’re copying her and she knows it). “Meur does not betray. Old friend found out on their own. Meur promises.”

Sighing, Rosie waves a hand at the door of the library. “All right. Come meet the cannibals.”

“Cannibals?”

///

It’s called Rosie’s Living Emporium. They stand in front of the sign, Meur’s hands kept carefully at their side so they don’t look like they’re about to shadow away, and Rosie feels a bit of fear. Just a bit. Just enough that she wants to shove Meur away and tell them to never come back. 

She clears her throat instead. “So. It’s a circus of sorts.”

Meur raises a brow. They can be quite expressive when they want to be. Right now she feels very judged.

“Oh, don’t you start. I’m sure you’ve heard of … freak shows and what not.” Scowling, Rosie shoves Meur forward and they laugh but allow the gentle insistence. Upon stepping through the small gates, they are greeted by the Emporium proper. There’s a small road with various houses along it, a set of stalls for selling goods, and a connection to her estate. It’s grown quite big with time. She should probably stop collecting the cannibals… but they’re Lucifer’s. They’re his people and she knows he cares (even if he tries to hide behind that mask of his).

“Old friend.” Meur looks at her and she sees the worry there. The Lures have been with her since the beginning. They walk hand in hand to take care of Greed. Their worry is her worry. She sees in them what she feels in her heart. “You have a problem.”

“That I do.”

///

“I know sinners are not allowed in Greed!” Rosie paces in her office in front of Meur. “But there’s an idiot Overlord shipping them as cattle! Cattle, Meur! And those are Lucifer’s people. I can’t just let them be-- devoured by some Ars Goetia who is full of themselves. They don’t even do their jobs!”

Meur hums.

“Not to mention they’re good people! So, I have them working. They don’t live here.” Rosie stops for a moment and stares at a picture of her and Lucifer. It’s one of the few that doesn’t have the other sins in it. Just her and him. She swallows. “They’re not staying. Not forever. Just--” She tucks one arm across her chest and puts the other to her temple to rub away her headache. “Just until that shitty Overlord no longer owns their souls.”

Lucifer would be furious. 

“You promised!” She spins and points at Meur in their chair. “Lucifer can’t know!”

“Old friend.” Meur shrugs. “Secrets are to be kept. But old friend should consider.”

“I can’t.” He’s-- Oh, she can’t worry him like that. “He’s still recovering. He’s been in a depressive slump for a few centuries now. I can’t bother him.”

With a sigh, Meur stands. “Remember, old friends both family. Understanding is given.”

Rosie bites her lip and sits at her desk. Lucifer could solve her problem. He’s in Pride, not Greed, and could swat down a single Overlord without a single thought. But. He can’t just go around killing Overlords, that sets a bad precedent. And he does not rule with an iron fist. Not like Rosie. 

Rosie uses her position as Sin of Greed to put a heel down. Lucifer could use being the Sin of Pride more, but he won’t. He cares too much. 

It’s why-- She swallows that thought. 

“I’ll find another way.” Rosie stands and looks out her window at the Living Emporium. Dany is talking to Daisy and Bart. Those three are good workers. They bounce off one another, talk to one another, communicate what is needed, and the other cannibals like them. She’s glad someone can take care of the Emporium, especially as she’s far too busy with her Sin duties. 

“If old friend insists.” Meur’s gone into the shadows. Rosie knows even without turning around, and she feels a twinge of guilt. They’re family. They’re just offering good advice. 

Rosie has a problem. 

And she doesn’t know how to solve it.

Chapter Text

More cannibals show up with time and Rosie almost pulls her hair out because of it. She can’t let them get butchered and eaten and killed forever, they’re Lucifer’s people, but she can’t keep letting them stay-- WORK in Greed. It’s a bad idea. 

She has a connection with a couple Imp suppliers in an attempt to keep them fed. It’s not as good as sinner meat in their eyes, but it’s something. It takes off the edge of their hunger and makes it so she’s not handing money over to the idiot Overlord that sold them in the first place (it's also far cheaper and Rosie appreciates a good deal).

There’s too many of them.

Far too many.

She has a small town of people on her estate, pretending they’re an Emporium show that is from the 1800’s, and anyone can see the attraction for a nominal fee. Anyone can take a tour. Anyone can see Bart butcher someone on his table. They can see Paul do dentistry or Dany work the market place. The cannibals are used to being watched.

It’s going to get out soon.

Lucifer is going to know. He can’t know.

///

It’s Daisy who brings the news. Daisy always brings the news, especially as Daisy is the one plugged into the modern day network. She’s quick to report any uptick of chatter, and she’s been indispensable for quelling bad actors in the Ring. Frankly, Rosie doesn’t know if she could keep on top of things in the modern day without Daisy (she would have to turn to the Lures and they have their own business to run).

And Daisy has grown to not defer to Rosie without some reason for it. She will laugh only when Rosie is funny, she flirts, she smiles, and she is quick to point out when Rosie might not be taking something into account. 

Dany was the first to adapt to Rosie. But Daisy quickly followed, and that meant Rosie soon had the entire Emporium working with her rather than for her. It was a wondrous feeling. It was like working with the Lures. People talked back and forth, offered ideas, and the community came together as one. 

They had to go back to Pride at some point.

Rosie avoids that thought. 

Daisy sits on her desk and points to a TV. “Pride has some exciting stuff happening!”

Rosie is handed popcorn by Dany as Paul and Bart filter in to sit in seats that Daisy brought with her. With a snort, Rosie taps at the popcorn bucket. “Really? Popcorn?”

“Oh, trust us.” Daisy waves at the TV. “It’s good television.”

With a snort, Rosie kicks her feet up on her ottoman, pops a piece of popcorn in her mouth, and waves a hand to get Daisy to start the show. Daisy clicks a button as she giggles. The TV flicks on and starts playing a video of Pride.

Charlie. Rosie loves Charlie. She can’t help the smile and the laugh at Charlie’s antics. She’s still such a kid. Look at her go. Making a hotel. Just like the Lures. Perhaps Rosie should ask Charlie to come visit; she could get some good tips from Meur. 

What was that last bit? Redeeming sinners? 

Rosie blinks as the video switches to show the Extermination. “This is rather depressing, why are we--”

Charlie is fighting exorcists. 

Charlie, her niece, is fighting exorcists.

Charlie, her niece and Lucifer’s daughter, is fighting exorcists.

The popcorn tastes like acid in her mouth as Charlie bats away exorcists with a shield. That’s Lucifer’s style. He knows she’s there? Getting attacked? Where is he? 

Something happens. Rosie can’t see all the details. Even when she leans forward to try and get the gist of what’s happening. Razzle and Dazzle are there. Adam is there. Lucifer-- Oh. Lucifer is there. He’s there and he’s resplendent with his wings out.

Rosie almost chokes when he makes a sex joke. 

“You okay?” Dany leans over and of course Dany would see. Dany always sees.

“Just fine.” Rosie manages to get out even as Lucifer backhands Adam into oblivion. She squashes any feelings she has about that particular action down, down, down. Nope. She’s fine. Just fine. 

Daisy holds up a finger when the video ends. “One more. This one’s the best one.”

Rosie doesn’t know if she can handle more. 

Charlie rebuilt the hotel. Clearly, Lucifer had a hand in it. Clearly , Charlie is not letting this little hotel idea go. It’s now a big idea with big plans. It’s so big--

“Wait.” Rosie sees a cannibal in the background. The black eyes are a giveaway and Rosie thinks of the battle scene from earlier. “Go back. Can we rewind?”

Daisy blinks but does as requested until Rosie signals her to stop. Charlie is stopping an exorcist, yes, but in the background there are cannibals. Dozens of cannibals, fighting with angelic weapons, and Rosie can feel it in her bones that she needs to know why. 

“Daisy.” Rosie whispers as she looks at the background of the video and starts to count the number of cannibals visible on screen to get the exact number. “How does Charlie have cannibals?”

All her cannibals look at her and then whip around as one to look at the screen.

“Ugh. Mammon.” Daisy mutters. “Probably bought them, if I had to guess.”

“No.” Rosie chews her words as she finishes counting at 37. That’s just what’s visible. A whole battlefield of them? Could be hundreds. “Charlie wouldn’t buy people.”

Unlike the Ars Goetia. 

Her cannibals don’t question her, and Dany simply sighs and leans back into her seat. “Well. She has to be working with Mammon somehow. He controls all the cannibals in Pentagram City. No one gets out of a deal with Mammon. No one.”

Rosie has heard the same story before. From every cannibal that ends up in her town. Mammon controls the meat market and cannibals need meat to live. It’s easy to force a deal in that sort of situation. 

“Can we see Miss Charlie’s new hotel again?” Paul leans forward. He probably wants to think about something besides the Overlord that owns his soul. 

That’s fine. Rosie wants to see the new hotel again too. It’s a majestic building, with a little bit of various people clearly built into the decor, and an apple to frame the front. It reeks of Lucifer’s influence. He even has a little tower added on. He’ll be with Charlie then. He’ll be at the hotel. That’s good for him. That’s good for Charlie.

Something clicks in her head. 

Charlie knows Mammon.

It’s the only way to get cannibals. It’s the only possible way to have a cannibal army that’s big enough to take on exorcists. Which means that Rosie, by extension, can know and get to Mammon. Charlie is her niece and she’s always willing to talk. She’s in Pride with her big plans and her big hotel. She’s where Rosie needs to be… and it’s not out of the ordinary for Rosie to pop by and say hello to family. 

“I think I’m going to Pride.” Rosie whispers as she stares at the hotel. She’ll just… pop on by to say hi. Hi to her adorable niece with her optimistic nature who would never question Rosie’s intentions. 

She should. But she won’t, and Rosie can’t help but take advantage.

“What?” Her cannibals say in sync. Dany continues. “Rosie, what happens to the Emporium if you’re not here?”

“Oh, I’m sure you’ll be fine.” Rosie blinks the hotel out of her eyes and looks around. They’re worried, but the Living Emporium is still growing. And she can’t keep it hidden forever. It will, eventually, get out that Rosie is allowing sinners to “work” in Greed. “You’ve taken care of it before.”

Dany purses her lips, but Daisy gives a smile and a small salute. Paul and Bart exchange a few words, but then Paul looks in her direction and gives a sharp, single nod. 

“Kiss Lucifer while you’re there.” Daisy winks and Rosie chokes. “Or bring him back for me to kiss. Did you see those muscles? The power? Damn.”

“Absolutely not.” Rosie is Greed. And Greed does not share . Even if Lucifer isn’t hers (not yet, whispers something in the back of her mind but she squashes that thought entirely). 

Chapter Text

It’s been some time since Rosie was in Pride. She and Lilith had been friends, and then the divorce happened. She didn’t come to Pride after that.

It still makes Rosie twitch. Divorced. Right after their daughter was born. It makes Rosie’s teeth itch. Her joints crack. Her power thrum in her veins. Rosie’s seen the divorce contract. She and Lilith are no longer anything.

She would kill Lilith if Lucifer let her.

So, Pride washes over her and she has to take a moment to look at the sky and suppress the feeling of wrongness. It’s red. Her sky isn’t red, her dress isn’t red, her being isn’t red, and she looks quite out of place in a red world. Perhaps she should have gone more incognito, but it’s too late now.

Her car pulls onto the main road and she sighs at the state of Pentagram City. The roads are poorly maintained. The fighting in the streets is everywhere. There’s blood and guts and gore covering every surface. Lilith had one city to take care of. One.

The hotel comes into view, and Rosie feels anticipation. She’s going to solve her little problem, she’s going to see her niece, and she’s going to-- she’s going to get the cannibals back to Pride. Dany will be back in Pride so she can find her brother. Daisy will be back in Pride and Rosie will have to bother the Lures for information. Paul will be back in Pride and she’ll have to find another dentist. Bart will be back in Pride and she’ll have to find another butcher.

She could find replacements. She has an entire Ring at her disposal. But it feels-- She doesn’t know how it feels, just that she doesn’t like the feeling.

“Thank you, Boral.” Rosie lets Boral open the door for her and slides out to stand in front of the hotel. Boral is one of the few Lures that doesn’t talk and doesn’t change jobs. He’s always been her driver, and he’s always stood by her side as a bodyguard. He’s trustworthy and dependable. “Keep to the shadows, if you would.”

He nods and then steps back into the car to go park it in a safer spot. He’ll be there, watching, waiting for her signal should she need him. She can defend herself without issue, but her powers are harder to reign in when she’s not in Greed. She will likely squash someone rather than correct them.

Right.

Rosie brushes off her skirts, straightens her hat, squares her shoulders, and strides right up to the hotel doors. Goodness, she hopes Lucifer isn’t there. She hadn’t filed the paperwork to visit. Better to ask forgiveness than seek permission.

She knocks.

“Did you hear that? A new guest already!” Charlie is still a vibrant child who has too much hope for a better world. Rosie sighs as she hears little hooves tap over hard floors. The last time Rosie saw Charlie in person was maybe 2 decades ago--

Charlie is almost her height now. Oh. She’ll be her mother’s height then. A pang of disappointment runs through Rosie. She rather likes Lucifer’s height.

Rosie gives Charlie the biggest grin she can. “A guest? Just a guest? My niece, you hurt me.”

“Auntie!” Charlie flings herself into Rosie, and Rosie barely has time to brace before impact. Goodness, she’s gotten stronger with time. It’s no question who’s child she is. “What are you doing here? I heard you had to deal with a new mafia that popped up!”

It’s nice to know Charlie keeps track of her. Even if Luci--

Stop.

Rosie.

“I heard about your hotel! What sort of Auntie would I be if I didn’t come see it for myself?” Rosie pushes them inside and shuts the door behind them. Charlie wouldn’t do it because she’s distracted. Rosie knows Lucifer’s daughter is like Lucifer.

There’s a gaggle of people inside. An Overlord of some sort based on the number of souls Rosie can sense connected to him (she finds the ears rather cute and wonders if he’ll let her buy them off him), a bartender, a small bug-like woman, an ex-- Rosie narrows her eyes. She knows an ex-exorcist when she sees one. There’s an angelic aura there.

“Who are your friends?” Rosie asks as Charlie separates and bounces on her hooves.

Off she goes. “Oh my gosh! How rude of me!” Charlie grabs Rosie’s hand and yanks hard enough that Rosie almost looks like she’s being dragged, but she manages to brace just enough to make it look like Charlie isn’t throwing her around like a rag doll. Someone has got to teach this child how to control her strength. “Everyone this is Auntie Rosie!”

Before Charlie can say anything else, a tall spider looks her up and down and snorts. “Why she green?”

“Sin of Greed, dear.” Rosie offers a very friendly, so friendly, and toothy smile in the spider’s direction. “Greed is green. I think I wear it well, don’t you?”

The spider shrinks away from her. “Sure thing. Very well.”

Charlie claps her hands and offers an awkward laugh.

“Alright! Auntie Rosie, this is Angel Dust!” The spider is Angel Dust. The drug name. Rosie raises an eyebrow at that.

“This is Alastor.” She wants his ears SO much. She’s going to get his ears.

“Husk.” Fascinating mixture of cat and wings. She wonders if she could get an alcohol deal going with Charlie.

“Niffty!” Bug girl. Stabbed Adam. Rosie smiles wide at Niffty who smiles back. They’ll definitely be getting along.

“And Vaggie!” Charlie squeezes Vaggie close and kisses her cheek. “My girlfriend.”

Girlfriend? Rosie blinks. Girlfriend. Charlie definitely said girlfriend. As in dating… the ex-exorcist. Interesting. There must be a story there. Rosie keeps her smile as she speaks. “Really? Well, Vaggie, welcome to the family.” Rosie gives a nod and waits to see if Vaggie puts out her hand to shake. She does not. “Always good to see young love.”

Vaggie gives a small smile at that, and Rosie does get the idea that she’s a very grounding presence for Charlie. As long as Charlie knows her past, that’s good enough for Rosie. Might as well just accept it because getting between people always leads them to dig in their heels.

Besides! If she fucks up, Rosie can just feed her to her cannibals.

The cannibals. Not her cannibals. The cannibals. That will eventually be back in Pride. Right.

Goodness, she’s become quite dependent on Dany. Maybe she can convince Lucifer to let her keep just a couple. Just. Maybe a couple. Or maybe four or five. She’ll approach that bridge when she gets the rest of the problem fixed.

///

The hotel is lovely. It has wood flooring, wainscotting, red paneling interspersed with apples and trees, and an overall vibrancy that makes Rosie really want to ask Lucifer about redoing her estate. It’s grown stale with time and a bit of a renovation is in order.

“Dad and Alastor share the top floor! Let me--” Rosie interrupts before any suggestions can be made that involve Lucifer.

“You know, I would just love to see what you do here. Do you have an office? I assume any hotel of this magnitude has a working area.” Lucifer would be in his workshop; Rosie was safe when asking about other working areas. She blinks when Charlie squeals.

“Yes!!! My dad made it with me in mind.” Designed for someone who was as easily distracted as Lucifer himself? He would know how to do that. He’s adapted with time, but the early years had been quite difficult. “This way!”

Once again, Rosie has to resist being dragged. She loves her niece but damn. She would like Charlie to at least have some sense of how much force she’s exerting. Down they go, past a grand staircase, past the kitchens, down a hallway with a delightful archway and a ceiling painted to resemble the canopy of a forest, and then Charlie practically kicks a door open.

Really. Rosie is going to start teaching Charlie about her manners and powers. This is ridiculous.

The office has a basket of fidget toys on the desk, see through baskets instead of filing cabinets, a trash can by the door and a trash can by the desk, and the view outside is a simple garden view. Yes, Charlie would thrive in this space.

“It’s lovely.” Rosie tenses when she feels her phone vibrate. That particular vibration is the one of the Sin group chat. Someone couldn’t have figured out she’s here... Not this fast. She just showed up. Who could know? “One second.”

When Rosie pulls out her phone, she sees the unread notifications going up. 10 then 20 then 30, and Rosie gets a little more worried. She opens the group chat.

“LUCIFER YOU GET YOUR ASS TO GLUTTONY RIGHT NOW. I KNOW YOURE THERE.”

Oh. Right. The video. Lucifer being out and about. Lucifer actually being awake and alert. That’s what’s getting their attention. Rosie sighs with relief. Thank goodness.

“Rosie.”

Rosie swallows when she sees the private text from Ozzie. She glances at Charlie, but Charlie is cooing at a bird outside the window, so she responds with an, “Ozzie.”

The response is instant. Ozzie was always one of the most efficient sins. It’s how he kept his Ring up and running. “In Pride to see a certain someone?”

It takes every bit of her willpower to not crunch her phone in her hands. “Yes, I’m seeing Charlie.”

It would be Ozzie that figured things out sooner rather than later. Damn him. He always kept tabs on Pride. Pride was the second biggest market for Lust. “Not going to question how I know?”

“Oz. Thousands. Of years.” She snorts when he simply responds with a heart. Charlie is still distracted, so Rosie sends another text. “Don’t tell him.”

“Which part? That you want to… have a GOOD time with him or that you’re in Pride?”

Never. Never again would Rosie let Bee test her fucking spirits in Greed. One time. It was ONE time she said anything of that sort and Ozzie STILL held it above her fucking head.

“The first part isn’t true, so the second.” She rubs at her temple as Charlie turns around and starts chittering about different work she’s been doing (it’s a hotel sweetie, it’s all just paperwork), and the different sinners she’s got staying at the hotel. Rosie filters the information in, and she’ll assess it later, but for now she just stares at her phone.

“He’s been divorced for 200 years now. And they were on the rocks for a thousand years before that. We both know it. Before the divorce? I get. But why are you lying to yourself now?”

She stares at that text.

She’s not lying to herself. She’s not. And 200 years is nothing to them. Absolutely. Nothing.

“Auntie? Are you okay?” Charlie’s voice makes her whip her head away from her phone and give her most dazzling smile.

“Of course, sweetheart. Just looking at the Sins group chat. They all want to see your father again.” Rosie tucks the phone away in her pocket. She’ll respond to that text later. “Speaking of which, let’s keep my visit between us. I saw you on TV and just had to come see ya. So…”

“You didn’t fill out the paperwork.” Charlie nods. “No worries! I hate that paperwork too. It’s why I don’t visit the other rings as much anymore.”

That’s her niece. Rosie claps in joy and opens her arms up for a hug. After a brief hug, Rosie holds Charlie at arms length to look her over. “You’re a doll. A marvelous niece. A fantastic child.” Rosie grabs her cheeks and kisses them for effect. “Just the cutest little angel I’ve ever seen.”

“Auntie!” Charlie laughs even as she pushes Rosie away. “I’m not a child anymore!”

“Oh?” Rosie gasps. “When did that happen? No, no. I remember your 20th birthday was just yesterday.”

Charlie giggles. She did always love a bit of silliness. Rosie sighs and pulls her close to kiss the top of her head. “ You've grown so much. I'm so proud of you. A whole hotel! And redemption! It's good to see you fly, little angel.”

Rosie wraps an arm around Charlie's shoulders and walks them out of the office. She'd always loved Charlie. Always. Charlie was a shining spark that brought out the best in her.

“How long are you staying?” Charlie allows herself to be led. “I can prepare a room for you, if you stay.”

The glimmering hope in her eyes makes Rosie say, “That sounds lovely, sweetheart. Just… maybe not the top floor.”

Chapter Text

Rosie has very. Limited. Time. The instant Lucifer sees her, he WILL sniff out that she is up to no good. That she is being nefarious. That she can’t be trusted. He’s known that since day 1 and she imagines that he will continue to know that in perpetuity. 

He does not forget that she swindled him out of his best gin trade-deal. All the gin comes to Greed now. She’s Greed! It’s her job to swindle! Just because he was on the other end of it doesn’t mean he has to get his horns twisted up. 

Really, her thoughts have been all over the place since that video of him displaying some power. She needs to focus. She looks around the hotel room she’s been given.

Her accommodations are decent. While Rosie is quite used to her estate, she does like the firm mattress, the black out curtains, and the nice wood furniture. For a hotel in Pride where anything can get destroyed on a whim, this isn’t just decent, it’s lovely. Rosie sits on the bed, sets her hat behind her, and flops backwards to stare at the ceiling. 

Her phone is still going off. Lucifer was finally starting to talk in the group chat (with a defensiveness that Rosie thinks is unwarranted). However, instead of saying things like “I will be visiting soon.” or “Shut up, Bee.” -- he’s saying “We need to get things in order.” and “Bell, PLEASE be awake when I visit in about a week.”

Rosie knows Lucifer.

She’s known him for such a long time now.

He’s hiding something. 

She flicks her phone to the side and lets it buzz against the mattress. The ceiling is spiraling shades of red flecked with gold. It’s quite pretty and Rosie almost loses herself in counting the freckles. Then her phone starts playing Lucifer’s ring tone. 

“We’ve had a hell of a ride!” Rosie scrambles to grab the phone and then pauses with it in her hand. Will he know based on the background sounds? Surely not? “But you thought we were riding to Heaven!”

Rosie growls as she stands and spins on a heel. It’s fine. He’s just. Calling to say hi! Yes. That’s a perfectly reasonable reason to call after 200 years. “Well, I mother fucking lied.”

She can answer. It’s fine. “So crank that funky shit to Elev--” 

“Rosie!” He sounds so happy. “I thought you might be a bit busy, but I needed to call and talk to you about some things we have to get sorted.”

Oh, it’s so good to hear his voice. She sits on the edge of the bed and sighs. “Lucifer.”

“Is this not a good time to talk?” The happiness drops and she so wishes he trusted her more than that. Especially after what they’ve been through together. 

“It’s a fine time to talk. I-- I just missed you.” She whispers the last words and then flops backwards once more on the bed to look at the ceiling. 

He sucks in a breath. “I missed you too.”

She could say many things. She could accuse him of retreating. She could ask him why he left Greed in the middle of the night without so much as a goodbye. He’d come to her after the divorce. He’d stayed in her house. Amongst her people. 

Not Ozzie. Not Bee. Not Bell. 

And then he’d disappeared and she’d felt it was her fault. She still doesn’t know if it wasn’t her fault. 

“I’m sorry. Rosie.”

/// ///

Lucifer stares at the ceiling. He’d flopped backwards onto his bed as soon as he’d gotten home. Dealing with Bee and Ozzie and the rest of the sins in chat was awful. They had good questions and good reason to be angry. To be upset. Two hundred years isn’t long in the grand scheme of their entire lives, but it was enough for them to be worried. For it to matter.

For it to help his heart be on the mend. 

His phone is still buzzing and he grabs it and holds it above his head to scroll through the many, many messages in the group chat. Ozzie expressed concern. Bee expressed outrage at him not coming by. Bell asked him how he was doing. Leviathan pointed out that he was supposed to do structural reinforcement of many things and had missed many key updates. Satan offered a simple, and singular, hello. 

Rosie hadn’t said anything. 

The one Sin he wanted to hear from.

After the divorce, she’d been there. For him. He’d shown up at her door, drowning in emotion, and she’d dragged him inside. She forced him to eat and sleep and be a person. She’d hugged him, laughed with him, and generally said, in no uncertain terms, to take as long as he needed.

10 thousand years of marriage would not be gotten over in seconds. He should allow himself to grieve, but also allow himself to be taken care of. It was good advice. 

He misses her. 

He should have listened to her. She had that way of looking at him and just knowing he was being an idiot. It’s how she got so many deals slipped by him. How she swindled him in card games, stole his gin, and his--- Well, she’s gotten many things from him over the years. 

It’s no wonder why the Lures love her. 

He misses her. 

She hasn’t said anything. She hasn’t even said hello. Did he hurt her? Was it his fault?

He stares at his phone. He had to call the Sins. Tell them about what’s happening. Tell them to get their houses in order. It could be a group call. Tell everyone at once. 

But Rosie deserves better. He’ll tell her in private. He can handle one phone call. He can handle talking to Rosie. He can handle doing his job for five minutes. It’s fine. It’s better than fine! It’s reasonable. 

Her picture in his phone is a duck. A green duck. She thought it was stupid. But she’d laughed when she saw it and he did love to hear her laugh. He clicks the duck. 

After the first ring, he thinks she’s likely busy and has her phone set to vibrate.

After the second ring, he wonders if he shouldn’t have called. 

After the third ring, the call goes through.

“Rosie!” He can’t help it. She answered, she’s willing to talk to him. Business. Right, he's calling for business. “I thought you might be a bit busy, but I needed to call and talk to you about some things we have to get sorted.”

She sucks in a breath and he hears something in the background that’s likely her moving. What if she’s busy? What if she didn’t really want to talk but she picked up anyway? “Is this not a good time to talk?”

“It’s a fine time to talk.” His heart gives a pitter-patter in his chest. “I--” She sucks in another breath. “I just missed you.”

Oh. 

Oh, that makes him feel. So good. How could four words make him feel like he’s wrecked? He turns over onto his side and curls up around his phone. “I missed you too.”

Silence as he listens to the rise and fall of her breathing.  He’d run away from her. She deserved better. She deserved a better friend. He misses her. “I’m sorry. Rosie.”

Her breath catches. He closes his eyes and listens to her, trying to understand why he’d run away at all. He doesn’t get it. Thousands of years thrown away because he’d been terrified for three seconds. He doesn’t understand himself sometimes. 

“Oh, Lucifer.” Her voice is little more than a whisper. “I’m sorry too.”

Don’t. Cry. Lucifer. He curls up tighter around his phone and lets his wings turn him into a little ball. It’s safe here. Perfectly safe. He doesn’t know why she’s sorry. 

“You took your wings out, are you okay?” 

He laughs. She would recognize that sound. “I’m. Getting to okay. Thank you. Rosie.”

The quiet settles for a second. Rosie seems to be thinking of what to say, how to say it, because Rosie is always careful with her words. She picks them up and looks them over, making sure each fits the moment, and she’s always been like that. It’s why she was so good at contracts. It’s how she spread her influence to every Ring despite him telling her, repeatedly, to keep her grubby paws in her own Ring. 

“You don’t have to thank me for being your friend.” Rosie’s words are soft. “What did you need?”

Right. He had a reason for this phone call. 

/// ///

She presses the heel of her hand into her eye to stop the tears before they can come. He was right there. She could go up to his room and poke at the hamster ball he’d trapped himself in. She could go up there and yank him into her arms. 

But she can’t be in Pride. She shouldn’t be in Pride. He can’t know about her cannibals. Not yet. Not when she’s still trying to solve the problem. All she can do is stare up at her ceiling and hope he feels her support from three levels below him.

Damn it. 

She just wants to talk to her friend again. Share stories. Trick him into giving up his shirt in strip poker. Laugh with Ozzie while Lucifer quacked like a duck. Take bets on if Bee’s new liquor will finally, FINALLY, get Lucifer drunk. They’d been family once. 

“Ah. Yeah. About that.” Lucifer’s shuddering breath tells her he’s close to crying himself. For no reason. They hadn’t even said anything other than hello and sorry. They were both ridiculous. “I know you’re always good about keeping things above board, but I need you to just double check everything.”

He knows. He has to know. He can’t know. How would he know about her cannibals? He can’t. She’s panicking for no reason. She clears her throat. “Oh?”

“Yeah. With the whole. Redemption thing. They said they would consider supporting Charlie’s program and hotel if we showed that we had our shit together. We know it’s bullshit but…”

For Charlie. He would try anything. 

There’s just one problem. “Lucifer, dearest, what do you mean ‘above board’?”

Please Lucifer. Pick up on the subtext. Rosie can’t run everything above board. Not when she and the Lures tear apart mafia families with a whim. Not when she runs the Greed Ring.  It’s impossible (and she’s unwilling to give up her hobbies).

“Just make sure things are squeaky clean on the surface at least. Anything that you can pass off as part of the Greed Ring is fine. But anything that doesn’t belong has got to go. Like.” Lucifer pauses. “Like Ozzie’s porn! Send that back to Ozzie. That’s a good example right?”

Rosie can’t help it. She laughs. Open mouthed and loud and like she hasn’t since he left. “Alright. I’ll send Ozzie back his porn.”

“I hear you judging my example.”

She snickers. “Me? Judge your example? Never.” 

“You asked me to define ‘above board’! So, I did!” He huffs. “The rest I know you do. Get your paperwork done. Make sure no one is undermining you openly. Make sure you dot your T’s and cross your I’s”

She rolls her eyes. “It’s cross my T’s and dot my I’s. ”

“That’s what I said.”

He’s an idiot. Goodness. But he’s--- He’s her friend. She’ll look through everything and have Dany doubl--

She has sinners in her ring. She has -- Oh no. She needs to get her cannibals out of there NOW.  Dany is a sinner. Daisy, Paul, Bart are all sinners. She can’t have sinners in her ring. They’re not Ozzie’s porn, but they don’t belong in Greed and anyone who looks at them will know that. She bites her lip as she thinks. 

“Rosie?”

She blinks. Right. She’s still on the phone. “Lucifer?”

She needs to see Mammon tomorrow. As soon as possible. Instantly. Anything to stop Lucifer from looking at her with a sigh and disappointment. Anything but that. 

“I’m going to do a giant Sin group call to tell them what I told you. But I-- I figured-- I--” He’s stuck on a loop, and Rosie knows how to break him out of it. She’s always known. 

“You wanted to tell me personally?” That does make her warm and happy. He wanted to talk to her in private. That’s good. That feels good. 

“Yeah. Just. Don’t tell the others.”

“Of course.”

She waits a few seconds, listening to his breathing, and wonders if he’s breathing for her sake. A few seconds turns into a few minutes. A few minutes listening to the alive Lucifer on the other end of the phone call. Just. Listening. Then someone knocks on her door and she has a moment of terror that they’ll talk and reveal where she’s at.

“Gotta go?” Lucifer’s voice is soft and sleepy. Had he been falling asleep? 

“I’ll call you later, okay? Or you can call me. Just.” Don’t disappear on me. Please. She wants to say. Instead, she simply waits. She’s said enough.

“I’ll try. Bye.”

“Bye.”

Rosie tosses the phone aside and puts both her hands over her face. She groans as the second round of knocking reaches her. It would be rude to shout ‘fuck off’ but she seriously debates shouting ‘go away’ and seeing what happens. 

“Auntie Rosie?”

Damn it. 

Rosie gets up with a huff. It would be Charlie. The one person she can’t get mad at for interrupting a rather splendid time of listening to Lucifer. Of just. Being there. With him. On the phone. It’s odd to think, but she rather liked the quiet they’d gotten to share. 

She’s going crazy. 

“Little Angel, did you need something?” Rosie opens the door and beams at Charlie. Charlie, the lovely thing, simply invites her to dinner.

She’s going to tear something apart. 

Chapter Text

Mammon. Rosie has got to see Mammon. The question is how to get to him. Charlie clearly doesn’t just TALK to Mammon. There’s no cannibals currently around, and Charlie doesn’t even discuss the cannibals where Rosie can hear. It’s like the cannibals left as fast as they came to help. 

Truly, they must have been hired help. 

Not a good sign. Rosie taps at the bar top and examines the hotel interior with a keen eye. She sees things she can improve. She wants to work on her relationship with Charlie. She likes to gather up friendships, of all kinds, and keep them. She refuses to let go of a good opportunity. 

Charlie may be her niece, but Charlie is also someone to have a connection with. 

“Can I get you something?” Husk asks her and she eyes him. She wonders what he sees in her eyes. 

“What kind of gin do you keep under the counter?” Rosie leans onto the counter and flashes her teeth at him. “Do you, perhaps, have a Bombay variety?”

Husk hesitates, but then he nods and Rosie feels victorious. She knew Lucifer was hiding some from her. Ha! She’s going to drink this place dry, serves him right. “Glass with a double shot of that please.”

The glass is in front of her before she can blink. She tosses it back and puts the glass down for more. It would take an egregious amount of this weak alcohol to get her drunk. Bee could do it in one drink, but sinners would have to work harder to accomplish such a feat. Husk, likely realizing this fact because he’s not a dumbass, slides her a refilled glass without comment. 

She’ll tip him later. 

Fuzzy ear guy! Alastor. Right. She wants those ears. 

“How much for the ears do you think?” Rosie whispers her question towards Husk, but it is not Husk that answers.

“The ears, my dear, are not for sale.” Alastor pops out of the shadows. He almost seems disappointed that she doesn’t react. If he knew Meur, he would not question her lack of response. “And neither are the rest of my features.”

She snorts. “I just want the ears.” -- Maybe the antlers. Ears first though. -- “The rest of you is--” How does she say boring without it being mean? “Not in my interests.”.

That works right? That wasn’t as insulting at least. Usually she’s a little more careful with her wording, but she’s tired. She didn’t sleep well last night. Lucifer’s phone call had played through her head on repeat and half of that call had been the sound of him just existing.

Alastor’s whole body twitches. His eye twitches. His hands squeeze his microphone cane-handle, and Rosie so looks forward to him opening his mouth. Please insult her. Please insult the Sin of Greed. She’s begging him to do it with her smile, sharp and fanged, and the way she leans to support her head with a hand on her cheek. 

“Boss.” Husk slides a drink past her. “Your drink.”

Alastor grabs the glass and tips it in Rosie’s direction. “To your good health.”

Damn. What a loyal bartender. She turns to look at Husk. “Clever.”

Husk shrugs. Maybe she wants Husk too. He’s a sinner though, and she has far too many of those already.

///

Charlie. If Rosie can get to Charlie, she can get to Mammon. She just needs to find Charlie. No Charlie at breakfast (and no Lucifer, thank goodness). 

///

Charlie is in the middle of a circle of some sort. She’s talking to her people with a vibrancy rarely found in hell, and Rosie watches fondly. She’s a darling thing and Rosie just knows if she saw even 1 inch below the surface of the Greed Ring she would be so very disappointed in Rosie.

It makes Rosie feel proud. Charlie holds herself to her morals and her core values even when it’s family that disagrees with her. It’s admirable. 

She’s got moxie, and Rosie loves moxie. 

“Auntie!” Charlie notices Rosie only at the end of the circle. Good. Rosie didn’t want to share anything with this group of people. “Were you coming for circle? We just ended, I’m so sorry that I didn’t tell you when we were starting! If I had--”

Charlie spirals. Just like Lucifer. Rosie interrupts.

“Oh, you know me. I just wanted to see you, Little Star.” Rosie gives her widest smile and she watches Charlie breathe a sigh of relief. “I did have a question for you.”

“Ask away!” What a gracious host. 

“Where are the people with eyes like mine?” Rosie knows how to phrase things. She knows how Charlie thinks and she can pull just what she needs out of a conversation. Confidence has led Rosie many places. “I was hoping to meet a couple, but I cannot for the life of me find a single one.”

Charlie twitches. She gives an awkward laugh. “Oh! The cannibals? I uh-- Well, they’re not here. They were just visiting.”

“You had friends come help and they don’t even stay here?” Rosie gasps and places a hand to her chest. “My lovely niece has friends that she hasn’t introduced me to? I’m wounded, Little Angel.”

“Oh, you know. They aren’t. Really friends.” Charlie starts to pick at her nails. Bad habit. Rosie grabs a hand and starts to pull her towards the door.

“Comrades in arms then! I have to meet them.” Rosie nods. “And thank them for taking care of my darling niece. Truly wondrous people to offer their lives for someone else.”

“I mean. Offer is a strong word.” Charlie swallows. “You don’t have to meet them. Really Auntie, I’m sure they would prefer some -- some privacy! Yeah.”

She’s so bad at lying that Rosie has to suppress a smile. Just like Lucifer. 

“Really, Charlie. I have standards, you know.” Her standards are different than what Charlie thinks they are, but they are still standards. Rosie rarely lies to Charlie. Lying is useless when one can just distort the truth. “And I want to thank them. You know when I want something, I get it. ” She smiles, sharp and dangerous, in Charlie’s direction. It’s not to Charlie, she would never threaten her niece, but it speaks of what Rosie can do to achieve her goals.

She always gets what she wants, and she wants so many things. 

“Okay.” Charlie sighs. “Let’s go to Cannibal Town.”

Alastor groans. “Must we go to that awful place?”

“Since when are you coming?” Rosie raises an eyebrow. “You won’t even sell me your ears. I’ll take the antlers instead if you’re so insistent.”

“Auntie.” Charlie pulls her hand away from Rosie and puts her hands on her hips. “What did we say about collecting body parts?”

“Hmm.” Rosie puts a finger to her chin. “I can’t recall.”

Charlie groans and puts her face in her hands. “Alastor knows Mammon” -- Everyone in hearing range groans. -- “so it's a good idea to bring him.”

Alastor challenges her with a raised eyebrow. She likes him. It's nice to have someone besides her cannibals stand their ground. Rosie smiles.

“Well who am I to say no to a guide?”

The raised eyebrow turns to a scowl. Got 'em. 

///

They walk. Rosie loves a good walk, and she knows Boral is following, so she doesn't really mind. Charlie seems nervous, but Rosie assumes that's because she's worried about Rosie’s judgement. Any judgement of Pentagram City would be directed at Lilith. Charlie need not worry.

Cannibal Town is-- well, it's something alright. The asphalt road is cracked and filled with potholes (no wonder Charlie insisted on walking), the buildings are barely standing, and every cannibal they pass is wearing the same work uniform (a set of cheap coveralls that blend into the background). 

Rosie knows a company town when she sees one. She doesn't mind owning a town, but owning something comes with responsibility. Mammon doesn't care about a single thing in this town. It leaves a bad taste in her mouth.

“I suggest you don't get near the workers.” Alastor is tense. “They will do anything to settle their debts.”

Even sell their souls if they're not owned already. Rosie gets the subtext even if Charlie doesn't. She purses her lips. 

A circus tent is in the center of town. Mammon's Discount Store and Circus is scrawled in hasty handwriting across a tilted and poorly hung sign. They're heading right towards it over a broken sidewalk and a collapsed gazebo that lays in ruins. No attempt has been made to repair it, and Rosie has a distinct feeling it will never stand again. 

Alastor walks right in the open flaps and Rosie follows with Charlie on her heels.

“Really, we don't have to bother--” Charlie is cut off by a clown. 

“If it isn't the Princess! Here to rent my army again?” He has a sharp grin, and looks like a clown. The burgundy and reds he's chosen aren't bad, but he wears them in offset and mismatching patterns. Even the jester hat on his head has no set design. Makes Rosie wonder if anyone has ever offered the man a comment on his outfit. 

She could see the color scheme working though. It's nice! If she didn't have a green hue to her skin, she would certainly try it. 

“Ha! No.” Alastor responds quickly. “Rosie?”

Right. Show time. 

His cannibal eyes narrow at her for a moment before he relaxes again. He's behind a counter, the circus tent full of trinkets to buy and a food stand.

Rosie offers a fake laugh. “It is a delight to meet the person who helped my lovely niece. I'm Rosie! Sin of Greed.”

Charlie sucks in a breath behind her. 

“Yeah. Yeah. Good to meet you. You could use some more gold in your outfit.” Mammon sounds dismissive. Meeting a Sin and waving them off is suicide at best. Rosie's eye twitches at the disrespect. He didn't even introduce himself. “You, uh, like my cannibals huh? If you ever want to eat one, I sell it at a good price. A discount for a Sin and everything.”

He would sell his people. It makes Rosie’s teeth expand and she has to swallow down her anger. He uses his own cannibals as meat. Are they eating themselves? Is that how he sustains them?

She's going to kill him.

“You're glowing green, mate. You hungry? I'll sell ya one right now.” He grins and leans in her direction. “You’re in my town! Might as well indulge, eh?”

She's going to rip his spine out through his mouth. She's going to display his corpse on her wall like the bug he is. Her joints crack. She feels her spine elongate. She tries to reign it in. She knows how he’s getting his trafficked people into Greed, he’s not subtle, but he’s acting like she doesn’t know. And that means she needs to be careful. She needs to not kill him. She needs-- Oh, she wants to kill him so badly, and she gets what she wants.

“Oookay!!” Charlie grabs Rosie by the shoulders and starts to pull her out the door. “Good to see you Mammon! We'll be back for cannibal meat later. Just wanted to meet you.”

“Yeah, you'll be back.” Mammon grins as they leave. “Got the best of the best here.”

The instant Rosie is outside the tent she takes a deep breath and forces her body down into her smaller form. “He's a piece of work, ain't he?”

“I tried to tell you that, Auntie.” Charlie sighs. “Lets. Just go home.”

Rosie turns to take one last look at Cannibal Town. Her cannibals can’t come back to this. She would tear out Lucifer’s throat if he suggested otherwise. A cannibal catches her eye. They’re tall and missing an arm. They tilt their head at her, their hair a scraggly and unkempt mess of curls, and blink at her a few times. She knows that face.

She sees that face almost every day. 

“Dany.” Rosie breathes the name and then shakes her head. Dany is in Greed. She's safe. She's safe. She's Rosie's friend, and she's safe.

Oh. She's Rosie's friend. That's an odd feeling. It's hard to make friends as a Sin. 

The cannibal must be able to read lips because their eyes light up. They sign at her. sign. She knows sign language. Lucifer taught her.

“My sister is alive?” 

Shit. That’s Harold. Dany has been looking for Harold amongst the trafficked cannibals for a century now. That's her brother. Rosie sucks in a breath and nods even as Charlie is talking off her ear and Alastor narrows his eyes at her. 

Harold practically glows, his smile so wide it shows all his teeth. He looks so happy. So fucking happy. He doesn't care about himself. He cares about Dany and her safety is enough for him. And then someone grabs his attention and he moves away out of Rosie’s sight.

She needs to get Harold. He's family. 

“Hungry, dear?” Alastor's voice cuts through the cobwebs in her head. 

“No.” Rosie finds she's not hungry at all. But she wants Harold, and she gets what she wants.

Chapter Text

Rosie cannot buy a single cannibal from Mammon. Not only would that be encouraging him and giving him money to continue his heinous crime against sinners, it would also be a sign that Rosie tolerates that sort of behavior. The amount of effort she put into tearing apart people that disobeyed her laws (one of which was no people trafficking), only to turn around and do something antithetical to her entire being would have the Lures on her doorstep with one of their therapists and rope.

Meur would not take her side despite their long, long friendship. 

Boral would let it happen.

She’s also not particularly allowed to do anything in Pride. After she wiggled her way into other Rings using her mafia to create service and good networks that were unparalleled in reach, quality, and quantity, Lucifer had put his foot down and said she, categorically, could not have a single person in Pride. He didn’t trust her to not take over Pentagram City and piss Lilith off.

Fair. 

That was fair. 

She had the Lures pull back any operations in Pride (she did NOT admit she was already in Pride), and quickly cut off any supply lines heading into the city. 

Which meant she couldn’t buy a cannibal. That was a transaction and she wasn’t allowed to do such things in Pride (a little unfair since Ozzie and Bee were allowed to sell goods in Pride, just a little unfair).

She sticks a nail in her mouth while staring at the wall on the other side of the lobby. 

She wants Harold. Ooo, she had to get around Lucifer’s rules somehow. 

“Chewing on your nails, my dear? One would think a Sin would know better.” Alastor’s voice is a static filled annoyance. She looks sideways at him and pulls her nail out of her mouth. She stares at him for a moment, noting the chain that connects him to Husk and Niffty, and wonders what morals Alastor holds.

“You’re a cannibal.” Rosie says this because she knows this. She says this because she saw a box with Mammon’s logo under Alastor’s arm last night. She needed to hurry the fuck up and take down Mammon and get Harold. The more days she spent here, the more likely she was to get caught. 

“Observant are you?” Alastor snorts and sits across from her. He pops one knee on the other and bounces his foot to the tune of the song playing on the radio. 

She tilts her head. 

Oh. 

“Can you buy a cannibal for me?” Rosie needs a specific cannibal. She can’t go up to Mammon and ask for a specific cannibal. But Alastor can. 

The screech of a radio tuned incorrectly, a microphone peaking, and a static burst of a speaker fill the room for a brief moment as Alastor’s smile gains green stitches. Interesting. That’s her color. He either has good tastes or the person who owns his soul could be from Greed. Fascinating. 

“I thought you were above such things.” The judgement is clear in his voice. 

“Not to eat, you simpleton.” Rosie scoffs. He has such a low opinion of her. “I need a specific cannibal. For reasons. Not to use as a worker or a puppet or anything else, I just need him. His name is Harold. He has one arm and curly hair. Very curly. Tight curls.”

Alastor puts his radio cane in his lap and taps on it with a single finger. “And, should I get you this cannibal, what do I get in return?”

Ah. A true deal maker. She was hoping to avoid that little detail. She taps at her lips, right where his stitches are, and gives a small wink. “Greed?”

He stiffens.

She smiles. “I’ll look at your contract.”

It’s not a guarantee to DO anything, she’s a business woman herself, but having a Sin look at your contract (a sin that is considered one of the best contract makers) is quite the deal. Alastor seems to know this because he pauses. His hands clench around his cane, and then he huffs.

“Must it be a specific cannibal?”

“Yes. I want Harold. No other cannibal will do.”

They look at each other. His ears twitch, spinning one way and then the other. She wants them. Maybe she can find another deer sinner so she can leave him alone. That might work. She wants. 

“Very well then.” Alastor stands and she stands too. “It’s a deal.” He waits for her to hold out her hand, a true gentleman, and they have a gentle shake.

“It’s a deal.” Rosie’s power rocks the hotel. It squashes his into nothing. It fills the room with green. It makes her glow, it casts shapes of bones and teeth and everything that Rosie is on the walls around them. She laughs as it devours everything and makes her hat float and his entire being gets pressed into sitting on the couch.

Then it stops and her hat settles into the correct position on her head. And he thought he could get one over on her. He’s panting from the amount of pressure that little bit of her power exerted. Really, he IS an idiot. But she’s happy to use him.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

Oh no. He’s supposed to be in Sloth. He left yesterday. He’d texted her. 

Rosie swallows. She spins on a heel and offers the biggest smile she has. “Lucifer! Darling, how are you doing?”

“Rosie.” He’s standing with his arms crossed and his foot tapping. He’s at the bottom of the stairs, a frown marring his features. “You’re not supposed to be in Pride.”

“I was visiting Charlie! I saw her hotel on the TV and just HAD to see her.” Rosie had the half-lie ready. Perhaps too ready because Lucifer raises an eyebrow. She forgets he knows her. “It’s an Auntie’s duty to check in on her niece.”

Lucifer snorts. “And you’re not supposed to make transactions in Pride.”

“Does a deal count as a transaction?” Rosie gasps and puts a hand over her mouth. “Oh, dear. Oh, goodness. How could I? Truly, an error on my part.”

Her over-the-top fake gasp has his smile twitching on his face. She suppresses her own smile and gives an exaggerated curtsy. 

“If the King would be so kind as to forgive a humble Sin, I would be most grateful.” She tilts her head enough that he can’t see her grin and only pops up when he laughs. 

“Don’t ever curtsy to me again. That was horrifying.” Lucifer waves a hand. “And if Ozzie heard I let you curtsy, he would have my head.”

He’s so good. The perfect size, a wonderful smile, and eyes that she hasn’t seen shine in over half a millenia. They sparkle in the light of the hotel with his smile stretching across his face. She missed him, so truly and utterly that her heart quickens just at seeing him happy. 

“Ah!” She can’t help it. She sweeps forward and hauls him up into a hug. She missed him. Spinning with him in her arms, laughing when he laughs, she squishes him. Hard. He can handle it. “You’re still so cute. Goodness, I just want to squish you until you pop.”

“Rosie!” Lucifer downright giggles. Adorable. He wiggles until she puts him down. “While I missed your hugs, you don’t have to squeeze quite so hard.”

“Well then stop being adorable.” She runs a few fingers through his hair, so soft even when he’s a mess, and sighs happily. It’s good to see him. It’s good to see he’s got a bit of a glow back. “Bee licks you, you’re lucky to get a squish from me.”

“That’s true.” His face scrunches up and he presses into her hand subconsciously. “She’s going to squeeze me and lick me isn’t she?”

“Oh, absolutely.” Rosie snorts. As if Bee didn’t do that BEFORE he disappeared. “Her fur is going to get ALL over your suit.”

“You two know each other?” Their conversation is cut off by a twitching Alastor. His hands clench and unclench around his microphone. 

“Do two Sins know each other?” Rosie says as blandly as she possibly can. “Do two of the oldest beings in Hell, two beings that are directly tied via a power chain, know each other? Why yes. Yes we do. We’re even friends, one might say.”

Lucifer hip checks her and she tuts at him. “Rosie, be nice. He’s an idiot.”

“What did you say?” Alastor’s antlers start to grow. Very nice. Very nice. Rosie rather likes their coloration too. The black has small striations of green cutting through it. She imagines if she cuts them off they don’t stay that big, which is a shame. “You pompous, dead-beat--”

Rosie is quick to grab an antler and twist . “If you dare address my King with anything other than respect, I will cut off your ears, antlers, and anything else I wish to keep without your permission.”

Lucifer places a hand on her arm and offers her a small smile. “It’s okay.”

When she releases Alastor, she thinks she sees a bit of respect in his eyes. Odd man. He brushes off his suit and gives a stiff nod before saying, “Well. I have had enough of being in your presence for a day. Good bye.”

He’s gone into the shadows and her hands instantly go to Lucifer’s hair again. He gives a small meep of joy. Rosie wants to nuzzle into his hair, wants to spin him around the room, wants to laugh with him over a good book. The decade he’d spent in Greed were some of the happiest years of her long, long life. Even if he was recovering, she’d gotten to take care of him. 

She liked taking care of her things.

Though he wasn’t hers. He wasn’t. She doesn’t know why she has to remind herself of that.

“So… why did you make a deal with Alastor?” 

Rosie freezes mid-skritch. Oops. He would ask. He forgets many things but this had just happened. She gives a slight tug on his hair and continues her skritches while humming a tune she knows he likes. He groans and leans more into her hands. His eyes close and he sways as he stands because he’s not thinking about standing. About being in his body. He’s just enjoying the affection. 

He’s fairly easy to distract. 

Removing her hands long enough to give his hands a tug, she situates them on the nearby couch so she can continue giving him what amounts to a head massage while he snuggles into her stomach and falls asleep. She knows how to keep him distracted, she knows how he works, and so she takes advantage.

She’s a Sin. It’s in her nature.

///

“What do you mean ‘It’s going to take time’!” Rosie throws up her hands and paces in the kitchen that Alastor is cooking in. “How hard is it to buy a cannibal? You walk up, say I want to buy a cannibal, and the idiot sells them.”

Alastor points a knife at her. “But you want a specific cannibal, my dear. Mammon does not have a way to ask for a specific cannibal. He doesn’t even know his cannibals’ names. Asking for a ‘Harold’ means I might as well ask for the sky.”

Rosie groans and rubs at her temples. “I can’t stay in Pride for long! Lucifer is going to ask questions and the more questions he asks, the more I have to distract him.”

“Must you distract him? Simply do not answer his questions.” He doesn’t understand. He just continues cooking. “If you are going to stay in the kitchen, you are either helping or offering gossip. Your choice.”

Well. 

Rosie can gossip all day. And she does love to cook. “How about both?”

Alastor gives a feral grin.

Chapter Text

“You want to know how to-- How Overlords can be overthrown?” Charlie blinks at Rosie and Rosie has a feeling she asked the wrong person. 

“Well. We both dislike Mammon. Perhaps we work to ensure he doesn’t have power.” Rosie nods, trying to assure Charlie they are on the same side, and Charlie blanches.

“I dunno, Auntie.” Charlie drums her fingers on the desk she’s sitting at. “I’m not reallyyyyy supposed to interfere with politics.” She starts tapping her index fingers together. “Mom didn’t really want me to have to” -- She waves a hand around in a circle. -- “You know?”

Rosie is going to tear out Lilith’s throat. But Charlie is more complicated than that. She’s a person and she has her own fears and wants. She wants to be part of Pride. Rosie has known that since Charlie went to highschool and was miserable.

“My tiny Star. My little Angel. My niece.” Rosie leans forward until her hat covers them both and she can speak directly to Charlie without anyone else seeing her facial expressions. Charlie always felt more comfortable talking under Rosie’s hat. “Tell me the real reason. Auntie to Niece. I won’t breathe a word of it. You know you can trust me.”

Charlie bites her lip and nods. Rosie was one of the few sins that refused to be pushed out of Charlie’s life. She’d been there for every major achievement. She’d been at Charlie’s college graduation. Just because she hadn’t been in Pride didn’t mean she hadn’t been there. Bee was the other one that stuck around, but even Ozzie had let Charlie slip through the cracks a touch. 

Rosie could never forgive him for that. She’s their niece . She’s family . She’s theirs . 

“I’ve never. Really. Gotten to know the Overlords. Dad has a couple of friends but--” But they aren’t CHARLIE’s friends. Rosie understands. 

“Why don’t we go together? Hmm?” It’s not a foothold in Pride, it’s not. It’s supporting Charlie. Lucifer couldn’t argue with that. 

Charlie is near tears. “Really? You’d do that?”

“You’re my niece! I’d do just about anything for ya.” With a nod, Rosie stands and offers her hand to Charlie. Besides, other Overlords will know how to overthrow Mammon. Or will kill Mammon! She likes that idea. She likes that idea a lot. “Let’s go now, mm? Before you lose your nerve.”

Charlie takes her hand.

///

Carmilla and Zestial are Lucifer’s friends. Rosie has never met these friends, but she has heard of them. Lucifer likes them quite a bit. 

Carmilla sits across from her at her desk, her arms folded and a mostly blank expression on her face. Zestial sits next to her, teacup in hand, with a look of contentment. They seem mostly alright. The chains Rosie can see in her mind’s eye are numerous. They’re old and powerful. 

“Princess. Sin of Greed.” Carmilla nods. “How can I help you?”

“Oh, just call me Rosie.” Rosie waves a hand and gets comfortable in her seat. “A friend of Lucifer’s is a friend of mine. And don’t you worry about me, I’m just here as moral support.”

Carmilla’s eyes dart to Zestial for a brief moment. Zestial sips his tea in response.

“Right! I’m um. Here to. Meet dad’s friends.” Charlie flexes her fingers. “And ask for advice.”

“Whatever advice we can bequeath upon the princess, we offer with joy.” Zestial is definitely pulling back on his natural speech, Rosie can tell. He hesitates over some words but remains happy. Rosie appreciates a man who tries to communicate clearly. “Ask freely.”

More flexing of her fingers before Charlie gets up the nerve. “I was hoping to know how we could get rid of--” Charlie hesitates. Rosie teaches over and puts a hand on the arm of her chair, showing solidarity but letting Charlie do this on her own. She needs to get used to asking for things. No one can exist in Hell alone. The Sins know that better than anyone. “Well. Getting rid of Mammon.”

For the first time in their interaction, Carmilla smiles. She and Zestial exchange a full look, one that speaks of many years of knowing what the other is thinking, and then Zestial turns back to the princess. “A most excellent question, Your Highness.”

“Though if we could dispose of an Overlord easily, we would have gotten rid of Mammon as soon as he became a nuisance.” Carmilla sighs. “Without killing him, which I would like to avoid, someone would have to claim his soul.”

Rosie twitches. Are those really the only options?

“Really?” Charlie sighs and slumps. “I guess I can’t help after all.”

“I didn’t say that.” Carmilla must be used to children. The smile she offers is that of a mother to a distressed daughter. Rosie recognizes it instantly. She’s taken care of enough children that she knows how it feels to be a mother. “There are more subtle ways to chip away at power until it’s almost non-existent. Alastor did so with Husk.”

“Alastor did that with Husk?” Charlie bolts upright with wide eyes. “Really?”

“Of course.” Carmilla taps at the table with a slight scowl. “We lost having a decent Casino Overlord, but Husk did allow Alastor close. He bet a few too many souls.”

Rosie hums. “So. Someone has to slowly steal Mammon’s souls out from under him?”

“Not steal.” Is the immediate response. “But acquire? Yes. Lower his power and he’s easier to suppress.”

Her cannibals are in Greed and Mammon doesn’t know they’re there. Rosie could sever those bonds. Or at least try to. Or perhaps get Mammon to let go of them. Without realizing it. There’s a decent chunk of people in the Living Emporium. Hmm.

“But why would anyone give up their souls? Don’t Overlords like to keep those?” Charlie blinks with big eyes and Rosie wonders how anyone ever resists giving her everything. 

Carmilla shrugs. “Find their weak point.”

“Is yours the man beside you?” Rosie knows a marriage when she sees one. 

Zestial gives a small laugh. “Doth thou really think love is a weakness?”

“No.” Rosie really doesn’t. She loves love. “It’s both.” Strength and weakness. Two sides of the same coin.

Carmilla smirks. “Smart woman.”

Rosie can see herself getting along with these people. She can see a future where she doesn’t have a foothold, but maybe she has some friends in Pride. Lucifer had to allow friends? Right?

Charlie looks between the three of them. “What are we talking about?”

What a doll. Rosie pats her head. “I’ll tell you when you’re older.”

///

Weak point.

Rosie watches Charlie pace. She can certainly work up a lot of energy. There’s a cork board and strings and pictures and Rosie really doesn’t care to follow any of it. Charlie will wear herself out and then Rosie can gently guide her in the right direction. A hyper Charlie is not ready to take direction.

Lucifer walks in the room, smiles at Rosie, gives a pinched expression at Charlie, and then skips over to the couch. He sets his duck cup down on Rosie’s side table. “How long has she been like this?”

Rosie checks her watch. “Forty minutes. Do you want the exact seconds as well?”

Lucifer snorts and drops into a seat next to her. He instantly is scooching over to press into her and drape himself over her lap. This is clearly a ploy to get head scritches. “What’s she on about?”

“Removing Mammon.” Rosie starts to give scritches so Lucifer doesn’t think too hard on that. “Something about disliking him as an Overlord.”

Stretching like a cat, Lucifer presses deeply into her. “Mmm. MMhmm. Never liked the guy.”

“He is a piece of work.” Distracting Lucifer is easy, but Rosie struggles to not get distracted herself. He’s warm and comfortable and so easy to fall asleep with. She yawns. She didn’t sleep well in Pride. Too on edge. “You leave for Sloth soon, don’tcha?”

“Mmm.” He headbutts her hand when she stops. “Put it off ‘til you leave. Bad host. Can’t.”

“Dad?” Charlie whispers and then points at her father and mouths, “Sleeping?”

Rosie mouths back, “Close.”

With a nod, Charlie leaves the two of them and heads towards the kitchen. That’s one way to stop her momentum. Charlie cares too much to be in Hell. Rosie yawns, picks up Lucifer despite his grumbling, and lays down on the couch before placing him atop her. If he’s going to be a warm blanket, she’s going to take a nap.

She’s not distracted. She’s not.

///

She wakes up around dinner time when he shifts and mutters in his sleep. 

“Rosie!” Charlie jumps down the staircase of the lobby and lands on her feet for two seconds before she rolls forward and lands on her face. It’s so VERY hard to not laugh at her for that. “I have an idea!”

Lucifer is blinking up at Rosie. Goodness, he’s so fucking squeezable. She resists and simply shrugs while running her fingers through his hair. They both like her fingers in his hair, why resist?

“What idea might you have, Little Angel?” Rosie feels Lucifer bury himself back into her and resists a snort. He’s worse than she is when it comes to getting distracted. Not that she’s distracted. 

Charlie waves her hands about. “What if I just buy his souls off of him? Right? That will weaken his power, I can give them a home at the hotel until we get them situated, and -- and we get them a place to live!”

Oh. That is quite simple. 

Lucifer mutters something into her stomach. “Lucifer, darling, we can’t hear you.” Rosie stops her scritches to poke at one of his cheeks. “Come on then. Time to wake up.”

He sits up and glares at her. “I was comfy. But fine. Char-Char. The royal family can’t be seen BUYING sinners.”

He has a point. And she can’t buy them for similar reasons. Rock and a hard place this one. Charlie slumps. “I knew it felt too simple.”

The best plans were usually the simplest. Politics always stopped those from happening. Second best would have to do. If they had a second best, that was, but they don’t. Rosie can’t think of how to do it. It feels impossible. Out of reach.

Lucifer knows how. Rosie sees his expression and raises an eyebrow. He looks away. Kingly business then. He’s on thin ice about that. 

“How about dinner!” Lucifer jumps up and claps. “Let’s go see what Al’s cookin’!”

Rosie is not distracted. She will get her answers.

///

Alastor is cooking dumplings. 

Rosie has to help.

He’s got a charm to him. She can see them being friends. Even as Lucifer watches and occasionally twitches when she and Alastor are chatting amicably, Rosie knows that Alastor could be her friend. 

Chapter Text

Lucifer stuck around her like glue. He bounced into the room and glowed. He missed her and she missed him (even if she couldn’t plan Mammon’s downfall, it was nice to have him around again). They were right back to where they were a thousand years ago. Right back to being best friends who pulled one over on Ozzie (he still didn’t trust them in the same room together) and stole a large vat Bee’s cotton candy. They were the best friends that snuck into Sloth for a few minutes of peace and rest. 

Were they supposed to do that? No. But they needed to do SOMETHING to keep their sanity. It was good for them both.

“You two are weirdly in sync.” Charlie looks between them as they look over one of Lucifer’s proposed deals. She has her chin pressed into his shoulder and hums when he points to a section for her to read. 

“No, we’re not.” They say in sync. Rosie hums and Lucifer whispers that she has got to stop saying what he’s saying. 

Rosie and him are just pretending that he didn’t run away from her 200 years ago. 

It was fine. 

Pretending was fine. 

Charlie looks between the two of them and taps a finger on her thigh. “I didn’t know you were so close.”

“The--” Lucifer presses backwards into Rosie. They’re sitting on the couch, Rosie being Lucifer’s back rest, and Rosie gives Lucifer a brief squeeze to help ground him. He takes a shuddering breath and clears his throat. “The divorce happened pretty early in your childhood and I-- Well. You remember how I was.”

The nod Charlie gives is slow, deliberate, and has her tapping a little faster at her thigh. “If you say so.”

They wait. Charlie is going to say something. They just know it. It takes a few seconds.

“Well.” She tilts her head and looks so much like Lucifer for a moment that Rosie can’t help her smile. “I figured out a way to bother Mammon.”

Rosie does not like the word ‘bother’ in that sentence.

But Charlie’s vibrancy picks up and she wiggles. “I’m going to offer some cannibals redemption! He sends them out on errands and if they come here he HAS to talk to me. I can convince him to be better.”

Oh. No. Be better? Charlie. That’s like asking Rosie to not ‘want’. She wants and there is nothing that will stop that (even if she always gets what she wants). Mammon will never be better. 

“Shit.” Lucifer’s whisper is only heard by Rosie and she hums in agreement. He clears his throat and speaks for Charlie to hear. “Char-Char. What if he doesn’t want to get better?”

“I can convince him!” Charlie pauses. “He can’t be as bad as Adam. Adam was an asshole . Besides! I have to at least give him a chance, right? Everyone can change.”

Sweet, darling, little angel. Rosie leans forward and lets her head thump against the back of Lucifer’s. He hums in agreement.

///

Rosie pokes Lucifer. 

“You have to have an idea for how to stop Mammon.” She nuzzles into his hair and sighs when he leans back into her. “Come on, Your Majesty. My King. Lucifer. You wouldn’t be hiding information from me, would you?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He swallows and looks up at her. His eyes are so big. She could fall into them. “Besides, weren’t we reading?”

He’s so good at deflecting.

///

“Not a single cannibal would talk to me!” Charlie is pacing again. Charlie is always pacing it seems. 

Rosie is unsurprised. If Mammon is running a company town, there is likely quite a punishment for stepping out of line. Harold’s missing arm filters into her mind and Rosie shoves the anger at the image down. 

///

“Lucifer.” Rosie puts her hands on her hips and he blinks up at her. His smile spreads slow and lazily over his face until there’s nothing but joy in his eyes. “Mammon.”

Lucifer’s smile drops.

Rosie slides onto the couch, pressing her thigh against his, and leans over to talk quietly. “We both know Charlie isn’t going to solve this without help. I can’t do anything. Charlie can’t buy them. They’re not letting her help. She’s not the most creative when it comes to solutions, lo--” Rosie bits her tongue. “Lucifer.”

He sighs and closes the book he was reading. “She could do a million things if she wasn’t the Princess, Rosie. Those of us in power have to be examples. You know how it is.”

Rosie purses her lips as Lucifer’s expression. She knows that face. It’s guilt. “I do.”

If Rosie started doing anything, the people would imitate because it was now ‘allowed’. Suppressing anything that comes up after she steps out of line would be a headache. Not to mention the Lures. But they’d discussed this before. They were going in circles. 

Circles and circles and circles and -- She couldn’t really complain because she got to distract him and there was nothing better. But the circles had to end.

She pokes him. “Come on.”

He gives a small whine and falls to the side, away from her, and then his wings pop out, trapping him in a hamster ball (she does NOT tell him that’s what she sees when he’s like this), and he whines again. 

“Drama King.” Rosie pokes at the wings. “You’re avoiding.”

“You don’t know that.” She can hear the pout in his voice. 

She strokes slowly over the feathers, humming the lullaby she knows he likes, and the tension slowly leaks out of him. The wings disappear and Lucifer sits up to look at her. He looks at her like he’s known her for as long as time has existed, and he has. That grips her heart and doesn’t let go. 

“You know. We promised to be honest. Once upon a time.” Rosie leans forward until her forehead bops his, just a touch. “Remember all those years ago? When you got in trouble?”

“I did not--”

“Lucifer.” Rosie tuts and he snaps his mouth shut. “You’d been suffering. For so long. And now you’ve just suffered again. You promised me. You promised Ozzie, Bee, and the lot that you wouldn’t just grin and bear it, but that wasn’t good enough for me. Was it?”

He closes his eyes and leans in too, and their foreheads press together as she takes his hands. “No. It wasn’t.”

“You promised me that you would tell me things. That you would be honest when I needed you to be.” Rosie whispers to ensure he takes what she’s saying seriously. She’s always serious when she whispers in this voice. “I need you to be honest, Starlight. My Starlight. My friend. Why won’t you help Charlie with this?”

He opens his eyes. “I missed you.”

It takes her breath away. There’s something in his eyes. Something gorgeous that makes his face glow and his small smile almost… almost everything. No wonder they’d both been pretending that her small stint in Pride was nothing more than a visit. They both knew she was here for something else. 

But he’d refused to look because he wanted her here as much as she wanted him in Greed. 

That could mean so many things. Rosie does not let her mind connect those dots. 

They’re still touching when he reaches up and cups both her cheeks. His thumbs caress her skin as he sucks in a breath. “You shouldn’t be in Pride. We both know that.”

She should be in Greed.

“And you’re trying to do something without me finding out.”

Her cannibals needed to live without worry. 

“And I hurt you all those years ago.”

He’d run away. He never said why. 

“And I just--” He looks so soft and scared. She doesn’t like that he’s scared. “I know the instant your business is done, you’ll leave. And I missed you. So much.”

His hands are soft against her skin. His eyes are sparkling. 

Rosie doesn’t know what to do with her hands, in all honesty, so she keeps them in her lap and simply breathes as Lucifer continues to stroke his thumb over her skin. It’s comforting. It’s warm. She says, “You could come to Greed. You always have a home in Greed.”

His whole body freezes. His eyes are wide, his hands are warm, and he huffs a laugh. “Even though I-- You’d still let me stay?”

“Of course.” It’s comforting. It’s warm. It’s everything. She knows she’d let him back in without hesitation. “You’re Starlight.”

He chokes. He closes his eyes and presses hard against her forehead with his own. He takes a shuddering breath and then sits up, separating them enough that Rosie can think. “Rosie. I-- I ran because--” His eyes flick to her mouth and she feels her heart thundering in her chest. 

She-- Oh, she can’t. Not here. Not now.

“You make me happy. And you made me happy then.” His hands are so warm. His eyes are so warm. His smile is so warm. “We’d been friends for so long and I knew-- I knew we were -- We were attached. I-- Oh, Rosie.”

The way he says her name breaks her. Utterly. The swoop, the lowering of his voice, the raw emotion built in that says so many things. 

For the first time in years--

   For the first time in a thousand years --

      For the first time in two thousand years, since the first time Rosie realized her feelings weren’t only platonic, Rosie lets herself want him . 

It’s a dangerous thing. Want. Rosie has always wanted and she goes after what she wants with tenacity. It’s why the Lures and her are family. It’s why she’s Greed. It’s why her and Leviathan butt heads. It’s why she has to be so careful everytime she thinks of Lucifer.

“Lucifer.” Rosie whispers and he gives that smile that means so many things. His hands are still on her cheeks, his warmth still sinking into her. “I want--”

“Rosie!” Alastor’s sing-song voice grates her ears as he bursts in the door in a whirling mass of tentacles and radio static. Lucifer and her both turn to him. Lucifer’s hands drop from her cheeks.

No. 

No. 

N̶̢͓͕̭̪͔̰̝͈͕̪̄̌̊̾̽̎̔̾̀̈́͒͛͋͠ṑ̵̧̳̮͎͖͙̲̉̚.̸̡̰͈͔̖̹͚̼̻̱͖͔͙͋͒͛̃̑̄̋̍̒̔̐́̕

She’s broken the wall. She’s knocked it down. She’s let him in. She can’t-- Not now. Not like this.

“One Harold, signed and delivered.” Alastor shoves Harold in the room. He’s been tidied up. He’s wearing a suit, his hair has been styled with a trim and a fade, and his teeth have been brushed. “I expect your side of the deal to be delivered post-haste.”

Rosie whips her head to Lucifer, puts her hands up, and says, “I’m not going to eat him.”

Lucifer HAD been looking at Harold, but now he turns his head and raises an eyebrow. “And what ARE you doing with him?”

She drops her hands and taps at her thigh. His eyes narrow. “Nothing.”

“Then we can send him back.” Lucifer turns (to tell Alastor to take him away, like an asshole) and Rosie lunges to grab his hands and stop him. 

“No. I want him.” Rosie knows he takes her seriously when she says ‘want’ because she explained it to him. She explained how it sinks into her. How she fights and claws and sinks her teeth in and refuses to let up. He knows. 

“Why?” Lucifer crosses his arms and leans away from her.

They’d been so close. She’d almost had him. He was hers and she wants and he’s there and he’s leaning away . 

She swallows. “I--”

“As lovely as this scene is, and I do enjoy seeing the mighty struggle and flail, Harold.” Alastor shoves Harold forward once more. “Has a question.”

Harold looks between Lucifer and Rosie. He swallows. “You said Dany-- You said Dany is alive?”

“Who” -- Lucifer groans and rubs at his temples while he speaks. --”the fuck is Dany?”

Rosie folds in half to hide her face and plant it into the cushions. She’d been lax in hiding things. She’d been an idiot. “You’ve not going to like it.”

“I figured.” He sighs. “Rosie. What was that about honesty?”

She lets out a gurgling groan. “Do I have to?”

Chapter Text

Rosie can’t look Lucifer in the eyes as he makes a portal onto her estate. She told him to put them in the foyer, she really needed time to think through how she was going to frame this, and Harold looks around appreciatively. He occasionally meets her eyes and gestures with a ‘This is all yours?!’ sort of look that Rosie is quite used to. She shrugs every time.

He is a lot like Dany. 

“I went to a lot of effort to get Harold.” Alastor steps across the portal exit and looks around. “I will see the fruits of my labor.”

“I told you to just buy him. I gave you money.” Rosie huffs. “But no! You had to go the long way around.”

“I told you. Mammon doesn’t even know his cannibal’s names.” Alastor growls at her and Rosie growls right back. 

“Yeah, he had to attack me and injure me. Then he offered to pay Mammon off.” Harold nods. “I already lost an arm, so it wasn’t that hard.” He bounces on over to Rosie and holds out his hand to shake. “Harold. Alastor said you bought me. Thank you.”

Rosie shakes his hand with a smile. So polite!

“You’ll be going back to Mammon if I don’t get a good reason why Rosie is spending money in Pride.” Lucifer steps across. His flat expression makes Rosie look away. He’s going to be so upset. This was why she needed to be careful and here she is just waltzing her plans around right in front of him.

Rosie clears her throat. “Let’s get this over with. This way everyone!” She sets a slow pace, if just for Lucifer’s short legs, and they move outside and round the side of the manor. The sign for the Living Emporium is in her usual font with ivy vines and thorns crawling up the white fence. She spins on a foot. “Look, there’s really nothing to see here. Just. Boring things! Must we?”

“Rosie!” Lucifer throws his hands up. “Would you just get this over with? You obviously have a secret. Just be honest and show me.”

She spins back and sucks in a breath when she sees Dany by the market stalls. “Well. Lucifer. Welcome to Rosie's Living Emporium.”

They step across the entrance and Rosie’s glamor drops. 

Lucifer sucks in a breath.

The world is still for a moment, and then Harold shouts with joy. “Dany!”

Dany’s head pops up from where she’s helping a customer. She drops everything and moves around from behind the stall to stand in the middle of the street. “Harold!”

Harold plows into her, but Dany has always been strong and she braces to take his weight without issue. 

“He’s her brother.” Rosie whispers as she watches the embrace. “She’s been looking for him for a century.”

“Oh, Rosie.” This time it’s different. This time it’s with disappointment. She closes her eyes and tries so very hard to not cry. She takes deep, even breathes. “You are far too kind.” That makes her open her eyes and spin to take in Lucifer’s small smile and warm glow. “You are also an idiot.”

“Well. I knew that the instant I grabbed the first one.” Rosie mutters. Alastor is just watching the scene with a raised eyebrow and his radio static a cloak over his presence. She hears her cannibals calling behind her and she turns back to them. 

That’s the happiest Dany’s looked in over a decade. “Rosie! You found him!”

“I did.” Rosie is approached by her usual crowd. 

Daisy huffs. “You would not BELIEVE what I had to deal with. Who the hell let Pluriol near the fucking internet. The number of viruses I had to clean from his computer was ridiculous.”

Rosie hums.

Paul beams at her. “I finished all the children’s dental work! I know you wanted that done and didn’t get to oversee it, but they were on their best behavior.”

Bart hums and nods. No news on that front then.

It’s the next bit that shocks Rosie to her core. Dany is not a physically affectionate person. She laughs and dances as the need arises. She smacks hands and pats heads and gives side hugs to children, but she’s never hugged Rosie . 

She flings herself into Rosie. “Thank you.”

Rosie bends just enough to give a hug back. “I promise he didn’t have his arm when I found him.”

Dany pulls away and her head tilts back in joyous, boundless, deific laughter. Rosie always knew Dany was beautiful in the way she found her friends beautiful, but right now there’s a small part of Rosie that understands why people keep trying after Dany glares at them. It’s nice to see what others see, to understand people, and Rosie feels honored that Dany is willing to share.

Dany turns to Harold, “Did you even thank her?”

“Of course I thanked her!” Harold throws up his one good arm. “You think I got bought, realized she was bringing me to you, and didn’t say Thank You? What kind of person do you think I am?”

“An idiot.” Dany puts her hands on her hips and shakes the chalk cloth she had in her belt at him.

Rosie’s attention is pulled by Susan screeching in the distance. “Has she been like that since I left?”

Daisy, Bart, and Paul say, “Yes.” in the flattest tone possible and in sync. May they forgive her for leaving. 

“So.” Lucifer sidles up to her side and sighs. “Rosie. When I said I needed you to get Greed in order…”

“I know.” Rosie puts her face in her hands. “It’s why I didn’t want to tell you.”

Lucifer bumps her hip with his and she refuses to budge. She is so embarrassed right now. “When did this start?”

That gets Rosie to drop her hands with a wince. “Do you really want to know?”

“Oh, no. Rosie.” He puts a hand to his cheek and sighs. “Really?”

They’re being watched by her cannibals and that makes this so much worse. 

“It’s not like I knew what to do, Lucifer!” Rosie starts to pace, her power making her glow as she gets worked up. “All I knew is a sinner showed up in Greed, one of my best friend’s people, and they were being sold to the highest bidder as food! Trafficking! In MY Ring. How fucking dare someone think they can get away with that? In MY Ring? Mine! This place, these people, are MINE .”

The word ‘mine’ echoes around them. Her teeth no longer fit in her mouth all the way. Her joints crack and she senses rather than sees all her cannibals step away. 

“You could have come to me!” Lucifer’s tail is out, his horns extending as his wings pop into existence. “Do you know how much shit this is to clean up? Heaven isn’t going to just turn a blind eye to this!”

He’s shorter. She doesn’t know how he got shorter. 

“You left!” She’s starting to lose her vision as her jaw flaps open and her mouth expands with her shout. She’s too worked up. She needs to calm down. 

Lucifer’s tail cuts the air behind him. “Me leaving Greed doesn’t mean I stop being King.”

Her body distends and disjoints and her claws get longer. She needs to get her emotions under control. She-- “ You left me. ” Her voice is garbled with the number of teeth in her mouth. “No explanation! Nothing but an empty bed and an empty wardrobe.” She’s too big. Her cannibals step farther away. “You think I didn’t try calling ? You think I didn’t try asking every person in our family where you were? You think I wouldn’t show up to your fucking palace and knock on the damn door?”

He’s frozen as he stares at her. His tail goes limp.

“You left me .” She whispers and collapses down into her regular form. She presses her hands to her eyes. She can’t cry. Not now. “And I blamed myself for years. I still blame myself. How else was I supposed to take your silence?”

“It wasn’t your fault.” Lucifer’s voice is so soft. Barely a whisper.

She sucks in a breath and removes her hands to see Alastor and the cannibals having retreated to the gate of the Living Emporium. She must have really lost control of her form for them to back up that far. “You left me.”

“Because I just got divorced.” He runs a hand through his hair and turns to look at some point in the distance. “And you-- Made me happy. I felt so guilty. For being happy. How could I have just gotten divorced, lost parental rights, and be happy?”

Rosie watches as he puts both his hands in his hair and pulls. He shouldn’t do that. His hands drop.

“And, after a decade, I thought about it too much. I looked at it and I questioned it. And--” Lucifer chokes and looks at her with big eyes. Eyes so big and wide that they seem to devour the world around them. “I wasn’t ready to be in love, Rosie.”

She sways on her feet. “What?”

“I wasn’t -- I couldn’t.” Lucifer is still looking at her. Whispering. “Even two hundred years feels like a blink of an eye. Yet…” When he trails off he takes a shuddery, wet breath. “I know I love you. And I was so scared of that fact that I ran the instant I learned it. I wasn’t ready. To love you in a new way.”

Rosie wants. 

She steps forward. “In a new way?”

“You know what I’m saying.” Lucifer whispers. “You always do.”

It’s dangerous to love the Sin of Greed. So very dangerous. She has to give him a way out. Any way out. “And you didn’t say anything?”

“Rosie.” Lucifer huffs a watery laugh. “I’m the Sin of Pride .”

She lunges. He’s hers. Their lips meet and he meeps, in that cute way he’s always done when she surprises him, and she anchors him close so he can’t leave. He’ll never leave again. Not when he’s hers. He chose this. She gave him an out. She was willing to undo the dam that had broken. For him. Only for him. 

“You’re moving back in.” She mutters against his lips and he whimpers. “I’m a greedy person, Lucifer. If you’re mine, you’re staying.”

“The hotel--”

“Is a job.” Rosie slides her lips to his cheek and towards his throat. “And you’re mine. You should know how it works. I get what I want. And I want you.” Another whimper. She pulls away and makes eye contact with Daisy. “Absolutely not.”

Daisy grumbles. 

“Does any of this help the Mammon issue?” Alastor spins his microphone and tucks it behind his back. He has a good point. She takes a step away from Lucifer and looks around the Living Emporium. Since they didn’t solve it, and Lucifer now KNOWs… maybe…

“Rosie, you cannot keep the cannibals.” Lucifer sighs as Rosie turns to give him a vicious smile. “Sinners are required to stay in pride.”

“They don’t live here!” Rosie waves around them. “They’re tourists.”

“Tourists.” Lucifer’s voice is flat.

“Workers at most.” She nods. “They’re just visiting.”

“Visiting.”

“Of course! I would never keep sinners.”

“Rosie, these are brick houses.”

“That were already here.”

“They have designated jobs.”

“Of course, how does one do a job if they don’t know what it is?”  Rosie and Lucifer stare at each other until Dany snickers. It would be Dany that makes fun of them. Rosie puts a hand on her hip. “Yes, Dany?”

“I like the idea of being a tourist. Let’s go with that one.” Dany nods after she responds.

Daisy jumps in with a giggle. “Yeah, we’re putting on an act. It’s a Living Emporium!”

“Fully above board.” Paul nods. “We just forgot where our visas are.”

Rosie is going to kill them. She groans and puts a hand over her eyes. “You are not helping.”

“They sound like they’re helping to me!” Alastor is making his ears so very attractive right now. She is very willing to pin him down while Bart takes them. 

Chapter Text

Charlie looks between them, with their held hands and Lucifer practically in Rosie's lap, and nods slowly. “This. Makes sense.”

“I feel judged.” Lucifer mutters. The rest of the hotel crew are looking at them with scrutinizing gazes. “They’re always like this, though.”

“He’s moving back to Greed.” Rosie clears her throat. “Any objections?”

“Nope.” Husk tips back his drink. No one else says anything, and Rosie looks to Charlie. 

“Little Angel.” Rosie makes sure to speak directly to Charlie. Her darling niece who she watched grow from a child into the wonderful adult she is now. “What do you think?”

Her smile glows just like her father’s. “I do not know!”

Rosie laughs so hard she tips backwards into the couch. “You let me know when you figure it out.” She clears her throat to center herself in the moment. “Mammon.”

Charlie sits and sighs. “I just can’t figure out a way.”

“Well.” Lucifer scratches his cheek. “You could just have Al kill him.”

Alastor pops up behind Charlie, who jumps twelve feet in the air, and growls. “I did not jump through over a dozen pieces of red tape to get Harold for you to tell me I could have just killed the man this entire time.”

“Why didn’t I think of that?” Rosie mutters and then hums. “Oh. Right. Because Carmilla didn’t want that.”

“What Carmicita doesn’t know doesn’t hurt her!” Lucifer’s grin is vicious and Rosie’s heart skips several beat. “And I’m putting the King stamp of approval on this. Verbally. And there’s only one problem with this plan.” Lucifer tilts his head. “So. Al. You’re not as powerful as Mammon, right?”

The way Alastor bristles tells Rosie many things. He definitely belongs in Pride. She’s thinking about the problem when her eyes are drawn in by an X on his forehead. The X on his head glows green . “Alastor.”

His antlers retreat.

“When you use your power, it’s green right?”

/// ///

Alastor feels like dynamite. He feels every vibration in the air, and should the smallest, tiniest fly pluck the strands of his radio waves -- he can snatch it out of the air within a microsecond. Before he blinks. Before the world continues.

Is this how Rosie feels every day? Does she command the world like this? No wonder she throws people around like they’re nothing. No wonder her monstrous form reached the sky. No wonder she felt like he was an ant beneath her boot.

Dynamite. He’s going to explode. He could take out Pentagram City. He could have all of Pride beneath his heel. He wants to keep this level of power. 

What did Rosie say?

“Alright, listen here. You give me your ears. They’ll regrow! Promise! We won’t use anything angelic. And in exchange, you can keep those two drops of my power until the moment you kill Mammon. Don’t you worry about a thing. It’s green and it’s enough.”

Why was he giving her his ears after this? Isn’t he killing Mammon for her?

He struts into Cannibal Town with a whistle and a twirl of his microphone. The cannibals know him, avoid his gaze, keep their bodies trudging along as if afraid he might make them late for work. It’s a miserable place. He liked it once upon a time, but then he had to exist here and that was awful enough. He rather liked what he saw of Rosie’s little town. It was well-maintained. People were genial and polite. The shops were stocked to the brim.

Seems Rosie had high standards. He could get along with her.

He walks into Mammon’s circus eye sore and looks around. Green fire sounds like a lovely way to end this abomination. 

“Hey, if it ain’t Mr. Radio.” Mammon tuts and shakes his head from side to side so his bells jingle. “Broke one of my best workers! Water under the bridge, mate. You here to buy another? Hungry mother-fucker aren’t ya?”

Alastor puts his microphone in front of him and taps at the shield. “No. No, I’m here after bigger prey.”

///

Mammon is fast. Alastor jumps, skips, and hops over sweeping arms and flashes of pink confetti. Canons appear and fire at him. Jingling bells are used to distract him. But Alastor has beaten many an Overlord.

He had been born in this role. Designed this role. Performed this role. He wasn’t at the height of his power, not like when he managed to snag Doctavious as a soul, but Rosie’s drops of power were more than he’d ever had. 

His puppets ground Mammon’s many legs to the floor to prevent his fast movement. 

“You dirty bitch!” Mammon shouts at the sky as Alastor flings himself upwards and then shoots his tentacles down into Mammon’s face. 

Goodbye, Mammon!

/// /// 

Rosie claps when he comes in the hotel door. “Excellent show! Now, those ears.”

“Auntie.” Charlie groans but Rosie is already moving towards Alastor. She wants those ears. And they’d shaken on it! No going back now. “You cannot take his ears.”

“Too late! A deal and everything. Lucifer.” Rosie looks at him with big eyes and her most charming smile. He blushes. 

“Dad!” Charlie throws her hands up as soon as Lucifer opens a portal and Bart steps through. “We cannot take Alastor’s ears.”

“They will grow back!” Rosie knows she’s being obstinate. But she wants those ears. “And a deal is a deal.” She nods to emphasize her point. 

Alastor, still drunk off her power and high off a kill, lets Bart lead him into the portal. 

“He’ll be fine.”

“He’ll have no ears.”

“Who needs ears?” Rosie waves a hand and laughs. “I don’t have ‘em!”

Charlie flops onto the couch and buries her head into a pillow. Rosie tuts and sits by her, running fingers through her hair. 

“Come on, Little Angel. They’ll grow back. Promise.” Rosie sits Charlie up and turns her around to start to braid her hair. She’d always liked that. “Has your Auntie Rosie ever lied to you?”

“No.” Oh, Rosie has definitely lied to Charlie. But what Charlie doesn’t know doesn’t hurt her. “Fine.”

The braiding of the hair continues until Alastor comes back Alastor comes back sans ears and antlers. Bart is getting a raise. Rosie is doubling, no tripling his salary. Wait. She doesn’t get to keep him. She feels a pang in her heart.

“Damn.” Angel Dust whistles. “You ever heard of a lipstick lesbian?”

Alastor glares. “Cease your inane prattling.”

With a smirk, Rosie yanks the two drops of power back into her person. She wonders if he knows that she didn’t even feel the loss. “How’s it feel to be the Cannibal Overlord?”

The room freezes. They look between Rosie and Alastor for a few seconds. They wait. 

“I am not the Cannibal Overlord. I am the Radio Demon.” Alastor’s body starts to get bigger and Rosie is delighted to see there are no antlers still. Fascinating. Very interesting. He might not grow them back. 

“Why not both!” Rosie claps her hands. She needs someone she can get along with so her cannibals are situated and happy. She takes care of what’s-- They’re not hers. Damn it. “Two titles are better than one. Ask Lucifer.”

Lucifer falls over the back of the couch to avoid answering. 

“You are ridiculous.” Alastor shrinks back down. “The King of Hell doing such a thing is embarrassing.”

“Nuh uh.” Lucifer’s voices come from the corners of the rooms and Rosie snorts. She creeps a tendril of power along the floor to jab him in the side. He laughs and that comes from the corners of the room too. “Rosie! Not in the lobby!”

The smile Rosie suppresses can be felt in the room as everyone melts into relaxed positions. “You own their souls! Might as well be the Cannibal Overlord, Alastor.”

Alastor twitches.

“And if you don’t become the Cannibal Overlord. If you don’t take care of my cannibals and treat them well… then I suppose I should broadcast to Pride that you had to depend on someone else to kill Mammon. How embarrassing. Couldn’t even defeat him on your own.” Rosie tuts. “Truly a stain on your reputation.”

The growl that comes from Alastor is almost earth shaking. He doesn’t have that level of power though. “You wouldn’t dare. You would have to confess that you leant out your power to a random sinner.”

“Or you made a deal with me.” Rosie smirks. “My word against yours.”

And a Sin’s word is never questioned. Now even by people in other rings. He seems to realize this and his spine stiffens. Charlie grumbles about Rosie being cruel, but doesn’t say anything else. She probably realizes what Rosie is after. 

He looks away. “I shall announce my new title at the next Overlord meeting.” He stalks out of the room in a cloud of green. 

“Lucifer!” Rosie finishes Charlie’s hair, pats her head, and then bounces over to Lucifer and scoops him up. “You have to help me make a new Cannibal Town!” She spins around with him, and then sets him down and puts her hands on her hips. “Dany will need an office. She’s likely to become a mayor of sorts. And Daisy will need a computer farm so she can keep up with the other computer people in the ring. Ooo! Paul --”

He’s looking at her with soft eyes. So soft she thinks she might melt. 

“Lucifer?” Rosie blinks at him. He grabs her hands and kisses the backs of them.

“You really love your cannibals. Don’t you?” He pulls her into a waltz as music starts to play around them. “They can work for you if you file the paperwork.”

The room is filled with a soft green as Rosie beams. “Really? I can have Daisy as a technology expert?”

“Yes.” Lucifer nods.

“And Dany as a right-hand?”

“Sure.” He spins her and pulls her back. She doesn’t know why they’re dancing, but she can’t really complain. It’s nice.

“And Paul and Bart?”

“Rosie.” He stops their dancing and pulls her closer, closer until they’re pressed together. “As long as you file the paperwork, and they live in Pride, you can hire any cannibal you want.”

She’s so happy she feels like she’s floating.

///

“Bart, can you go grab Mildred and show her where her home has been moved?” Rosie inspects the transplanted brick house Lucifer had helped move and, as usual, finds no fault. Bart is quick to salute and walk away. “Who do we have left?”

“Just Dany and Harold.” Paul checks off a box on the sheet he has on his clipboard. He taps a pencil against the paper. “You wanted to move the gazebo from Greed to here?”

“It’s a performance place!” Rosie gasps. “Paul, how are you going to put on your celebrations and performances without it?”

Paul gives her a soft smile. “I’ll tell Lucifer.”

He leaves her alone and she looks around the new Cannibal Town. The hotel sits above it, a clear central building that draws the eyes, and the cannibal homes create a main street with shops and artisan buildings at the base level and homes up above. Mildred’s school was larger, so she was towards the edge of town. 

There were too many souls to keep by the hotel. But Rosie’s people got to live here. For easy access to Greed. They’d fix up the area Mammon ruined with time.

“You’re lucky.” Dany’s voice cuts the air and Rosie turns with a grin. “I don’t think you’d last two minutes without Daisy.”

Probably. 

“I wouldn’t last one minute without you.” Rosie pokes Dany in the head and she scowls. “Goodness, I’ve let you decide which mafia’s are getting too big for their britches for forty years now! Imagine me having to go back to doing all that work. No thank you.”

“And I keep track of who is where and which cities are getting a little too chaotic and --”

Rosie waves a hand. “Yes. I am aware of how much you do, Dany.”

Dany smirks. “Can I get a raise to account for transportation costs?”

“You walk into a portal.” Rosie’s voice is dry as bone. They fall into a slow walk together towards the hotel. “From your house into your office.”

“The walking will surely wear on my body. The raise helps with future medical bills.” With a shrug, Dany sighs. “I mean. If you want me to eventually fall apart--”

“You are the worst employee I’ve ever had.” Rosie hip checks Dany. “You can have a raise when you find me which Mafia is selling poison-laced flowers.”

“The Carters.”

Rosie stops walking and puts her face in her hands.

///

“Why am I staying in Greed?” Lucifer puts his bags down in his room and puts his hands on his hips. “Just as a reminder.”

“You’re mine.” Rosie states this with full confidence. She’s keeping him. Even if he’s not ready for romance. Even if he’s not ready for her to pin him to a bed. She’s keeping him. He’s her best friend and she wants him.

And she always gets what she wants. 

He smiles, soft and sweet and everything that makes her heart skip a couple beats. “And to make sure you don’t have any sinners living here, of course.”

“Of course.”

She runs a few fingers through his hair. “How’s Charlie doing?”

“She says as long as I come back to the hotel each day, it won’t even feel like I’m not living there.” He sighs. “And I’m keeping the tower as an office space. And a library.”

“Library?” She perks up and he instantly scowls. 

“No, you can’t have my books.”

She puts a hand on her chest. “But I love books.”

“You are a hoarder.”

“Yes. And?”

“You’re a menace.”

“But I’m YOUR menace.” She pokes his face, right where a nose would be if he had one, and then realizes what she said. Woops. She blushes.

He moves towards her, wrapping her in a hug, and sighs. “You’re my menace.”