Eight

The carriage is black and round. The door has a small with a window, but it has crimson red curtains covering it, on the other side is a window that is the only brightness that comes into the carriage. It's small, yet can hold two people. On either side. Two seats are fit for royalty, beside the door and the window, not much was there to see inside the carriage, it is small. It's clear that this is not the royal carriage, still not for those who are beneath royalty.

Athena does like being in the carriage, as she never has been in a real carriage before. From the sound of hooves, she knows horses are dragging the carriage. As she was far too busy with her confused feelings, she hadn't notices how they looked or who's even driving the carriage. Now, as she sits in the carriage, her body seems more comfortable sitting there than it should be.

"I take it, you like it?" Lucifer teases her, as he has been watching her get excited about riding in a carriage. Something he has done for years, and particularly doesn't enjoy it.

"Yes. I love it" She says, her excitement already taking over her. Though Lucifer fears that if she doesn't stop moving around and tries to look at everything, she might hurt herself. She can't help it though, the window isn't that big and doesn't show much. However, it does show a little of the outside world, of the place that she's in. Mostly she sees only red and more red, different shades of red. Although, she sees only that, she has come to that conclusion that she's far, far away from home and it doesn't look like she will be going back any time soon.

At first she had thought that she might have been near the village that was close by to hers, yet still is a distance between the two. As she has never gone far from her village, she doesn't know what the rest of the world looks like. And, she might never know, as she isn't in the world she believes she's in. She's somewhere she never knew existed, a place where parents tell their children about to scare them into behaving. And, with all the monsters and demons that lurk in there. But, she doesn't know that, not yet anyway but one day she will.

"That's good. Now, please stay in your seat, wouldn't want you to hurt yourself on the way. We might be here for quite some time" He tells her.

"In the meantime, I would like to ask you how you liked the flower I sent to you, did it meet your approval?" He asks.

Lucifer being a King never prepared himself for having a Queen by his side, as he rules on his own and never wanted nor felt the need for any assistance from his family.

"The rose was beautiful, thank you for it. I do love it, it reminds me of the flowers near the place where I grew up. I used to love going there to pick them and bring them home, where they would decorate the house and it would look beautiful" She tells him, not even sure why she shared that information to him.

She can't help but feel like an open book with him, he does something to her. Something she doesn't like, yet likes at the same time. Her thoughts and feelings are rather confused and can't even tell what's right and what's wrong anymore.

"I know" Is all he says before silence takes over them.

She has done as he told her to and sat down and tried to stay still in the seat. The crown on her head is making her head hurt so much and she'd rather get rid of it, she only has to wear for the rest of the day, and the day has just begun. While in the carriage, she's facing him and she notices that he isn't as scary as she had originally believed, he's calm and peaceful. Though Athena is still weary of the red eyed man in front of her.

He might all of a sudden snap, as he had done before. What's stopping him from doing it again? What she doesn't know is that each time he has lost his temper, it is his beast, only trying to protect what is his. She belongs to him and only him. The girl can be rather naive when it comes to that, yet she doesn't even know the strength that she holds inside. But, will soon find out, with the man in front of her to help her out with it.

"Where are we going?" She asks.

The question has been burning inside her mind for some time now, and each second that passes she wants to blurt out the question and she did, eventually. She had managed to keep her mouth closed for five minutes or so.

"A secret, my love" He tells her, looking deep into her eyes.

Her own eyes look into his, and the glowing red doesn't seem as frightening when looking closer. As do all things. They might seem scary at first glance, yet can become less terrifying when you look a bit deeper. She's surprised by the amount of warmth she finds when looking in them.

Each lost in the eyes of the person in front of them, not caring for the world around them or the fact that the carriage has come to a stop. It isn't until a knock on the door and then it opens that breaks them from diving into each other eyes. Lucifer breaks the eye contact and his eyes immediately snap to the side, to the door to see if there is danger. His body ready to defend and protect his Queen if needed, yet still doesn't want to scare the poor girl.

His body relaxes when he notices no danger, yet. Still he's ready to protect her from anything that might hurt her.

"It looks as if we're here" He tells her, not looking at her.

His eyes narrow at the door. Before she could respond to him, he has already stood up and walk through the curtains and disappear out of her sight. Athena does the same. As her foot makes contact with the step of the carriage, a hand reaches out to her. She takes the hand that helps her out of the carriage. When her head goes through the curtain, she sees where she is.

The King doesn't look happy when she comes out. As he wasn't the one to help her down from the carriage, but it was the driver. He eyes his hand as it still holds the hand of his love. She lets go of his hand when she's out of the carriage, and looks around. Her innocent eyes look all around her. The ground beneath her is the same red as the castle is, her mind figures that it's just how the ground is supposed to look like, however it is rather strange.

Around her is nothing. The ground beneath her is all there is. Everywhere her eyes stare, she sees nothing. Her confused mind looks back at Lucifer. He has been watching her look around, with a half smile on his face. The driver of the carriage goes back on the seat on the front of the carriage and sit down. The horses begin to move and the carriage moves and leaves them alone in the middle of no where.

"Where are we?" She asks him, she can't figure out what they are doing there or even where they are. Then again, she doesn't know a thing of this place.

"We, my dear, are at the lake. The only lake that can be found in the kingdom" He tells her.

Her eyes look at him and are even move confused at the point. She doesn't see a lake, or anything for that matter, she sees nothing. A chuckle escapes his lips when he sees how confused she is.

"What?" She asks. Looking around for the second time, only to be sure that she hadn't seen a lake the first time.

"How can that be?" She asks again, not even giving him a chance to answer her first question.

Athena has grown afraid of what is going to happen now.

"The lake isn't above ground, it's hidden under it. If it were above, it would dry out from the heat" He tells her, as if she were to know that.

She is after all the Queen of this kingdom and is supposed to know things like that. Then again, she only arrived there a day ago and doesn't understand everything there. She doesn't understand the rules or the land. She isn't even aware of where she is and what lies around her.

"How do we get there?" Athena questions him, even more confused than she was before.

She's never heard of a lake under the ground, only seen one that is above the ground and surrounded by grass and flowers.

"That is simple, by magic" He tells her.

His plan is to show her that magic does exist. She's never believed it to be the truth, but today she will. He will make sure of it. Lucifer will succeed, he is the King after all.

"Magic? That isn't real. Are you sure you are all right?" She asks, not even sure what is going.

"You, my dear Athena, are magic. Magic lives inside you, always have and always will. Don't you remember your birthday and the gift I gave you. It was to awaken the magic that has been living inside you" He says, finally telling her the truth.

He had planned on telling her on their wedding night, but in order for them to marry, she has to unlock the magic that lives in her. And, she will not fall in love with him and trust him if he doesn't tell her the truth.

"You are talking nonsense" She says. She was about to say something else, but stops herself from speaking more.

She does think of his words. She had gotten a mysterious gift on her birthday, and something strange had happened to her. She remembers the fire that she could touch and it went through her body.

"You aren't telling the truth, I don't understand" She says, anger in her rises and sadness.

The confusion isn't easy and her body is growing tired and exhausted from all of his. This man isn't making any of this easy on her, he doesn't understand what she's going through.

Noticing how she's panicking, he's quick to wrap his arms around her and push her head into his chest. The action does frighten her, yet she doesn't push him away. Athena is confused and closes her eyes and feels herself starting to calm down. His heartbeat in her ears soothing.

"I know you're frightened about it, but I swear to you, I will stand with you through this. I shall open the gate to the lake, this time. Next time we come here, you shall open them. I will train with you and help you control it" He tells her.

His words don't make any sense to her. This is all just too much for her. The Athena was only just getting used to the fact that she has someone to help her dress every morning and having jewels on her body that make her want to fall down to the ground from the heaviness of them. Having magic inside of her isn't something that she likes to think about when it comes to herself, she doesn't understand how she can have magic. Sure, her whole life, she has been somehow different from everyone. She only thought that was only because she never grew up with parents but two brothers. As people of the village looked down on that.

After a few minutes she calms down and he lets go of her, even though he'd like to have her in his arms longer. But, as they are surrounded by nothing, dangers could always be lurking around and having her in his arms is the only way to keep her safe.

"Just wait here and I will show you what magic is" He tells her.

She fixes the crown, that had gotten a little crooked in the hug. Taking two steps forward he takes a deep breath and clears his throat.

"Ignis flammae venice portae tuus porta" He chants over and over again.

Athena looks in wonder on him, not sure what he is doing, yet still can't help but admire it. The words he speaks are unknown to her, but it sounds beautiful in her ears. He stops speaking after he chanted it about seven time, nothing happens. He doesn't move from his spot.

"Come to me, but don't make any sudden movement. Go slow" He orders her to do.

Confused she does what he told her to do and slowly she begins to make her way over to him. Before she could make it, the earth started to shake and she nearly lost her balance. Strong arms hold her up so she doesn't fall, being in heels is hard enough but when the earth under her shakes, makes it even harder.

"Don't worry, this is normal" He tells her, calming her down when she's about to panic again.

Athena doesn't understand what's going on and as instinct she grips into him and holds him in a tight grip, as she were to hold on to her dear life. He lets out a light chuckle when he sees how she's acting, he always forgets that she doesn't know the rules there.

The ground in front of them started to fall down and make a staircase. Similar to the one that the King used to bring her to the Underworld, but this one is a golden one and smaller. Her eyes widen when she sees it. It sparkles as she looks ok at it. It's beautiful in her eyes. Before she could admire it more, Lucifer began to walk down the staircase. Trying to stay close to him, she follows behind him. Not sure of what just happened. She is beginning to believe that magic does exist, however she is still in denial.

Many in the village believed that there were things that human could not explain, magical things. But, Athena never listened and never believed that there could be something in the world that no one could explain. The further they walk down the darker it gets. The golden staircase doesn't shine when there's no light, as the Underworld doesn't have light, except for fire and that is above the ground.

"The darkness doesn't harm you or I will harm the darkness" He tells her, as he notices that she afraid.

In her early years, she was afraid of the dark and what lurks there. What she doesn't know that the things that lurk in the dark are demons. His demons. The things that protect her when in danger, and he's not there to make sure she doesn't get harmed.

"I can't see anything" She tells him.

Her every step, she needs to take with caution to make sure to not trip and fall down, she doesn't know how long this staircase is.

"Forgive me, my dear. I had forgotten the human eye don't see that well in the dark" He says.

His glowing red ones can see in the darkness. In his right hand, a bright glowing flame appears. Lighting up the area around them. Watching the orange and yellow flame in his hand with wonder. And she remembers what had happened on her birthday and how she had a flame in her hand. The fire dances in his hand.

"How long will we have to walk to get to that lake?" She asks, the heels she wears are not made for walking down the stairs.

Her feet are aching in them and she fears that she might twist her ankles and fall down. Yet, something about being near him makes her feel safe and protected, but she doesn't understand those feelings.

"The lake needs to stay so far under the ground, so the immortal fire doesn't taint it. The water is pure" The Lucifer tells her.

Noticing how uncomfortable she is at walking, he sweeps her off her feet and carries her down bridal style. Not wanting her to feel pain in her legs. Understanding how she likes to be barefoot, he also wants her to be without shoes. Athena feels safe in his arms. This time she's awake when she's in his arms.

He makes her feel something that she doesn't understand or know what it. Yet, she can't help but crave those feelings.

"W-what are you doing?" She asks him, taken back by this action.

She doesn't know how often he has held her in his strong arms and protected her with them.

"Carrying you, those heels are hurting you" He says, as if that is the obvious thing in the world.

She doesn't say anything about it, and doesn't even fight it. He had figured that she would try to get out of his arms. Because he's carrying her, the fire in his hand had to be put out. The darkness took over them once more. This time she wasn't as afraid of it, because she's safe in his arms. He would never let anything harm her. She's starting to believe that. His steady heartbeat calms down her racing one. Her breathing also calms down and becomes normal again. Looking down at the way that he is walking and taking her with him, is light. It's faint, but it's there. She sees it, figuring that they are almost there. She wonders how they can walk this much down and not hit the center of the world. She wonders if they are even on earth anymore or if they are in another world.

A Magical world, the Underworld. The place where worst of the worst come after they die and turn into demons to serve the King and Queen for all eternity. There will be a little shock from her when she finally knows where she is and who she is. The light grows near them and she begins to see the stairs again, and the things around her. Normally she would ask him to set her down, but she doesn't want to leave his arms again, she likes being there and wants to savor this moment.

She doesn't even know why she likes being in his arms, she just does and doesn't want to go down. And, he doesn't complain. Lucifer walks down the stairs with his Queen in his arms, until he finally reaches the last step.

As much as he hates it, he carefully and gentle sets her down and he makes sure that she catches her balance on the heels before he lets go of her.

"We're here" He tells her with a smile.