Chapter 31

"Lucifer?" Jo says after a few hours of silence.

"What?" he snaps.

"I really don't want to be stuck here with you any longer than I have to be, and I'm sure you don't want to be stuck here with me, either, so do you want to, like, put our feud on hold until Chuck lets us out of here?"

"Depends," Lucifer replied. "Does our truce end once we're out of here?"

Jo nods. "Oh, definitely."

"Then deal," he replies.

Awkward silence.

"So, um, how do we get Chuck to let us go?" Jo asks.

"I guess we just... talk?" Lucifer guesses.

"Because always ends well," Jo says sarcastically.

"Then what do think we should do?" Lucifer asks, his tone showing he's going to have a hard time following through on the truce.

"I don't know. Maybe play a game? And something you can't cheat at, like checkers?" Jo suggests. "No talking necessary, but we'd still be getting along enough for Chuck to let us go, right?"

Suddenly, a chess board with pieces appears on a small table, a chair on either side. Lucifer gestures for her to take a seat, and he does the same.

Five minutes of silent game playing follows, until Lucifer takes her queen, putting the king in check in the process.

"Dammit!" Jo frowns, looking up from the game to meet Lucifer's gaze. "Wipe that smirk off your face. Game's not over yet."

"Might as well be," he replies, clearly satisfied with himself. "I got your queen."

"You keep thinking like that, I'm going to get you in checkmate before you realize you're missing a piece."

"I'd like to see you try," Lucifer replies, obviously sure she can't.

He's wrong.

Jo wins within ten minutes, a satisfied smirk on her face. Lucifer flips the board off the table, and Jo just laughs at him.

"I demand a rematch," he announces.

"Sure," she replies. "If you wanna lose."

Lucifer pauses, then makes the table and game disappear. A tv appears against the wall, an Xbox controller in each of their hands. Jo gives him a puzzled look until the tv turns on and she sees the game.

"Seriously?" she scoffs. "Call of Duty?"

"Damn straight, Call of Duty," he replies. "You in?"

"'Course I am," she replies. "You're going down."

~~

"Adam, want to go see our friends?" Samandriel asks. The boy has been doing fine when the two of them are alone, and Samandriel would like to see how much Adam can handle. At the same time, he doesn't want to push him into something he isn't comfortable doing.

Adam hesitates before saying, "I don't know..."

"You don't have to," Samandriel adds quickly. "Just, you know, if you want to see how everyone else is getting along."

Adam nods slowly. "Okay, I guess..."

The two of them head to the war room, Samandriel walking slightly in front of the boy as a subtle reassurance. They're relieved to see that Lucifer isn't here, and Michael is too preoccupied with Gabriel to cause Adam any grief. He glances at the boy, though, his eyes apologetic, but it only lasts a moment before looking back to his brother.

"Who should we talk to first?" Samandriel asks, his voice gentle as it always is when talking to the flight risk of a boy.

"Someone new," Adam replies.

"Are you sure?" Samandriel asks. "Maybe you should talk to one of your friends."

"I don't have any friends here," Adam replies. "I met Sam, Dean, and Castiel once, and I've only seen my father for birthdays. We're not very close."

Samandriel nods sympathetically. "Alright, who do you want to meet, then?"

Adam looks around, then gestures with his head to someone standing by himself. "Him, maybe? So he's not alone?"

"No," Samandriel says quickly, then adds in a calmer way, "I don't think Crowley is a good place to start. How about... Kevin Tran. He's a prophet."

Adam nods in agreement, so Samandriel leads him over to the familiar boy whom he's never really met and the red haired girl with him. "Hi," the angel greets them with a kind smile. "My name's Samandriel, and this is Adam. Can we spend some time with you?"

"Sure," Kevin agrees.

"Depends," she says at the same time. Samandriel looks down at her expectantly. "Can I call you Alfie instead? Cuz Sammydale or whatever you just said is way too long."

He chuckles. "Sure. Alfie seems to be my nickname to a lot of these people."

"Awesome," she replies. "Hi Adam. Hi, Alfie. I'm Charlie, and that's Kevin."

"Nice to meet you," Samandriel replies.

He glances at Adam, wondering if he wants to contribute to the conversation, but it seems he's content standing there silently. Samandriel doesn't try to get him to talk. It's progress enough to just be in the same room as people, never mind the same room as Michael.

Perhaps the next step should be talking to the archangel. Or maybe talking to the Winchesters, and then Michael. Eventually, he hopes Adam and Michael will be on speaking terms, though he knows better than to expect a friendship there. And as long as Lucifer stays wherever he is now, this shouldn't be too hard.

As if on cue, Lucifer yells, "Dammit, Jo, I'm going to fucking kill you for that!"

*brief transition of POVs here*

Dean doesn't hesitate the follow the sound, Sam, Bobby, and Ellen just behind him. They follow the distinct speaking, finally finding the door that the noise is coming from. Dean glances back at his brother. Can he just open it? Does he have to knock? What's proper possibly-saving-your-friend-from-the-devil etiquette?

Ellen makes that choice for him by opening the door, not wanting to delay saving Jo from whatever Lucifer is doing to her. When they see her, they all pause.

Jo and Lucifer are both playing Xbox games. . It's some type of first person shooter, but there are so many of them out there that no one tries to guess what it is.

Ellen clears her throat, getting their attention. Both look back, confused. Ellen looks at them expectantly, sure there's some explanation for why her daughter is playing video games with the devil.

"How'd you get in here?" Jo asks.

"I opened the door," Ellen replies as if it's obvious, because, well, it kinda is.

"But how? It was locked," Jo tells her, confused.

"Joanna Beth, if you were —"

"Do finish that sentence," Lucifer interrupts. "Chuck stuck us here. Looks like he's letting us leave, so I'm out." With that, he disappears, his wings creating a slight whoosh.

Jo puts her controller next to the Xbox and turns off both the gaming console and the tv before starting to leave the room, but the incredulous expressions of those in the doorway stop her. "What?"

"You were just playing ," Dean surmises. "With the ."

"Chuck already got mad at us for fighting, so we decided to be nice-ish 'til he let us leave," Jo explains.

"And the 'I'm going to fucking kill you'?" Dean prompts.

Jo smirks slightly at that. "He was mad that I kept killing him."

No one really knows how to respond to that. Who would have thought Jo would be better at video games than the devil?