Actions

Work Header

The King's Decree

Summary:

Wanting to help his daughter get more guests in the hotel quicker, Lucifer comes up with a new law. And a new criminal punishment: The "Re-raise Sentence"

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Chapter Text

Lucifer Morningstar had been absent from his duties for centuries, letting sinners and overlords alike roam free in pursuit of their personal goals.

 

But times were changing.

 

His daughter, Charlie, had her hotel, yet it remained nearly empty, save for a few unique patrons, (though only one of them was officially a guest. The rest were just the staff).

 

There was Angel Dust, who at first joined as a temporary escapade. And Sir Pentious…. who hadn’t survived long enough to be much of an asset.

 

Back then, Lucifer couldn’t have cared less. His ungrateful people can burn and be killed again for all he cared, so long as his daughter was safe. It was the reason why he made that deal with the exorcists in the first place, after all.

 

But thanks to his daughter, Lucifer saw potential.

 

But, if sinners weren't interested in redemption on their own terms, perhaps a little push would convince them otherwise.

 

His plan was subtle but commanding: The "Re-raise Sentence" designed to address those who abused their power—especially those holding soul contracts.

 

Overlords and sinners would now have to choose to either reform or regress under his decree; they either choose to hand over the souls that had complained about their treatment, and change the way their business treats their remaining employees.

 

Ooor… for those who refused? He would simply take away their titles, their privileges by force, and hand them over to Charlie’s care, to redeem at the hotel—or set them up for a new life as “regressors” under strict supervision for a certain number of years… or for life. Regressing into an age based on how far they need to start over. Whichever the king sees fit the amount of sins they shoulder.

 

Charlie thought it was excessive… But, upon realizing that while yes, all sinners deserve a second chance, not everyone would want to take it. Not without a push. It was about time to give her people some tough love. And so with the consent of his daughter, Lucifer officiates the new law.

 

It wasn't long before Hell’s overlords got word of the new sentence.

 

Vox and Velvette immediately made arrangements, surrendering some of the souls they controlled and implementing policies to improve their business, to avoid any more complaining employees.

 

Alastor, however, had a different reaction. The Radio Demon gave up both Husk and Niffty willingly and, without a word, disappeared into the depths of Hell. And something tells them, it would be more than just 7 years.

 

Husk, now free of Alastor’s ownership, seemed almost lost but… quite relieved and happy. Niffty, on the other hand, was devastated.

 

Since Charlie considered them friends and held both of them close to her heart, she let them decide what they wanted to do.

 

Husk asked if he could rebuild everything he lost and become an overlord again. Charlie allowed it and only requested that Husk do better this time. —Not a problem. Being on Alastor’s leash was a humbling experience for him.

 

Niffty with nowhere else to go, and had no interest in redeeming or being ‘re-raised’, sold her soul to Husk, and they both made plans for a new casino nearby the hotel.

 

Carmilla and plenty of other overlords just like her, were never a problem. But they willingly dropped off some souls under their contract. Ones who were simply bored of hard labor for the rest of eternity or were causing problems towards other workers.

 

But Valentino... he was a different story.

 

When personally called by Lucifer for a one on one in a small office, like his business partners, Valentino had laughed in his face. Instead of being rational like Vox and Velvette, he was too stubborn.

 

“Hand over Angel? Change the way I run things?” He scoffed, showing no respect for Hell’s most powerful being. “Please su majestad~ I’ve got my business down pat. If Angel's got complaints, he can choke on a fucking dick like the little slut he is and was always meant to be.”

 

Lucifer’s gaze hardened. He held out his hand and a string of gold was pulled out of the moth, forming into a golden scroll with the spider’s real name on it.

 

He destroyed Angel’s contract with a single tear down the middle, causing Valentino to go silent and in shock as the torn pieces turned into dust and faded away.

 

“Then I’ll choose your fate myself, sinner.” Lucifer decreed, his voice echoing through the room.

 

And with that, he stripped Valentino of his status and imposed the Re-raise Sentence, seeing as he was too twisted, irrational, not to mention stubborn to follow rules for redeeming at the hotel.

 

For his numerous sins, Lucifer had given the moth a life sentence of regression. And the symbolic age that suited his actions? —0 to 4 years old.

 

And Lucifer had someone in mind to oversee this new arrangement.

 

.•.•.

 

“Holy shit…” Was all Angel could say as he walked into Lucifer’s office and got a good look at what exactly he was called in for.

 

There Valentino was, stripped of his usual arrogance and intimidating presence.

 

His sexy, flamboyant attire replaced with soft, childlike clothes that Lucifer himself had arranged; a onesie with butterfly and caterpillar prints all over it, mittens and footies that were secured around his wrists and ankles with straps (ensuring he doesn’t do something inappropriate for his labeled age, like flip off his caregiver), knee high socks with flower prints, a frilly bonnet with his antennas sticking out from the top, and a pacifier shoved into his mouth.

 

Lucifer hands Angel a golden scroll, with a warming smile for the spider, despite looking irritated just a second ago. “Congratulations, Angel! You’re free. And this little brat’s soul will be under your care from now on. I hope you raise him right.”

 

Though he was still confused, Angel’s hand operated on autopilot and accepted the soul contract. “Um… what?” He asked still.

 

Lucifer decides to explain and Angel is left stunned.

 

The control Valentino had held over him for so long was shattered, and he was now the one who owned Valentino’s soul, and was assigned to be his guardian. The irony wasn’t lost on him, and though the thought of payback crossed the spider’s mind…. he opted instead for responsibility.

He’d do his duty, treating Valentino with the same care he wished the moth had shown, no matter the history between them.  

 

.•.•.

 

Angel had to follow a routine for taking care of his adult baby. He’d make sure Valentino was bathed, and deal with the frequent tantrums that came with his assigned age. And surprisingly, he found a sense of peace in it all. Taking care of Valentino without fear or intimidation in the air was a strange but comforting freedom.

 

Getting him to eat however, was hard. And Angel had an idea why the moth was so resistant in being fed (apart from the fact that it was infantilizing for him).

 

Angel wiped down the hundredth mess Valentino made in his highchair, and looked him in the eye. “There aren't any laxatives in your food or drink.”

 

Valentino’s eyes narrowed and he scoffed, “Why should I believe you?”

 

“‘cause the point a’ this new law is to sentence sinners into bein’ re-raised. Ya don’t put drugs in a kid’s food to ta get ‘em ta shit quicker. Plus, whether it’d be now or later, that diaper’s gonna be full and ya ain't allowed to use the big boy’s bathroom —King’s orders. It don't matter when, but I’ll be changin’ that diaper eventually. But, I don’t see any point in giving medicine. So stop bein’ so cranky and eat up, baby bug.” Angel held the spoon up to the moth’s mouth again, but just like he had been doing for the past hour, Valentino turned his head away to avoid letting the food so much as touch his lips.

 

“And you're going along with this, why!?” The moth asked, squirming in his highchair, uselessly flapping his wings, his mittens had kept him from using his fingers, so he couldn’t untie or even grab the bib tied around his neck.

 

“Yer my responsibility now. That’s all.” Angel answered, “Besides, the king once told me that if ya were too much of a handful, he can always have somebody else ‘adopt’ you.”

 

“Maybe he’d have yer old polycule business partners take you in.”

 

At that, the moth finally stopped. Valentino averted his gaze, his pride bruised but his resistance softening.

 

He stayed quiet for a few more seconds before answering, “Can I at least get something other than jarred puree…?”

 

Angel sighed, and stood up. “We still have to follow the appropriate types of food I’m supposed to feed ya at ‘yer age’.” He gathers all the baby food jars and closes the lids. “I can go boil some veggies, so y’can eat some semi-solid food. Would that make ya feel big-boy enough to stop whining?”

 

Valentino still avoided eye contact. Furiously blushing like Angel had never seen before (probably because Valentino had never blushed at all until now). “Y-Yes… Mama. It’s good…”

 

It took a while for Angel to get used to that… ‘Parental formalities’ were apparently required. And they both settled with ‘Mama’.

 

Valentino tried to call him ‘Mommy’, but Angel knew exactly where he was trying to go with that. And so he made it clear to his former pimp, that while he chose not to take advantage of the situation, he still wants some sort of revenge. The best possible revenge Angel could think of was keeping everything ‘G-Rated’ between them, even behind the closed doors of Valentino’s nursery. Angel never once thought of any sexual roleplay they could do with this. Actually… he’s never thought of doing anything sexual with the moth in a long time. The magic had disappeared years ago, and the later nightly sessions felt like he was fucking a shoe.

 

“Sex is for big boys, baby bug. You can have more adult time when you ‘grow up’.” —Angel had told him before. Telling Valentino that he will practically celibate for as long as his sentence. And well… considering what Lucifer told him, Valentino did not take that well. Resulting in his first ever tantrum under Angel’s care. Which wasn’t new from his past man child tantrums. He screamed, cursed, called Angel names, and threw things. —He was put in time out for swearing and was put into nap time for his temper tantrum.

 

.•.•.

 

“Uh-oh! Did my baby bug finally use his nappy?” Angel dotingly said, as he patted the moth's padded bottom. When Angel had smelled something, he unclasped Valentino’s onesie to get a look at the diaper. The little star printings were faded, indicating that there was now something in there.

 

“Stop!” Valentino used his detained hand to try and swat Angel’s hand off, but the spider had stopped him, and dragged him off to the changing table. Pushing him down and began changing him.

 

“Aww, there’s nothin’ ta be shy about.” Angel cooed when he saw the moth’s cheeks were almost the same shade as his wings. He took off the diaper, folded it and dropped it into the bin. “Teeny Tino can tinkle any time he needs to~ That’s what yer diapy is for after all.”

 

“Angel, would you shut the fuck—Mph!” Valentino’s protests were silenced with a binkie.

 

“Stop kickin’ around, you’ll fall off the table.” Angel scolded him, pressing the pacifier against the former pimp’s mouth, until he gave up trying to spit it out. “And no bad words either. We’ve been over this, baby bug.”

 

“Rrmph!” Valentino huffed, reluctantly sucking on the—fucking godforsaken dummy.

 

After applying the powder and rash cream, Angel taps the moth’s legs “Up up.” He says.

 

Not wanting to prolong the humiliating process any further, Valentino lifts his legs up to allow a fresh diaper to be slid underneath him. Angel secured the diaper straps, and buttoned the underside of the moth’s onesie again.

 

“There! Nice, fresh, and clean!” Angel said, patting the padding again to emphasize.

 

Valentino only let out a heavy frustrated breath.

 

Angel helped him down the changing table (not that he needed help), and guided him inside the crib. Valentino crawled into it, tired of rebelling at the moment, and watched as Angel lifted the fourth side of the crib’s wooden frame to lock him in the crib.

 

“Mama needs to go somewhere to visit a friend. I’ll have Auntie Charlie babysit you, so stay here for now until she comes.” Angel said, looking down at the laying moth.

 

Valentino only nodded his head, not at all thrilled that the princess of hell would be babysitting him, but what could he do anyway?

 

Angel kissed his own fingers and brought them down to boop the moth’s pacifier, making the moth cringe at the gesture.

 

Angel switched off the lights and turned on the nightlight, before walking out the door.

 

Valentino stared at the nightlight. Despite hating everything else in the nursery, he did enjoy the glow of the soft light. It reminded him of Vox.

 

Vox…

 

Velvette…

 

Valentino was glad that he was allowed to choose whether to accept visitors or not. He wasn't sure what he’d do if his business partners saw him now. What they would say to him, for being stupid enough to defy the king while he was still playing nice…

 

Eventually all the heavy thinking was making him sleepy. So he allowed himself to doze off, ignoring the tears he feels pricking the corners of his eyes.

 

It was going to take a while to get used to this life sentence…..