Arianna tried not to dwell on how little time she had left. She kept fidgeting with her frizzy brown hair in anticipation, her cloudy blue eyes darting around worriedly. She knew he was coming for her. It wasn't fair. Her damned father had given her away. Like she was nothing to the man. But of course, that was apparent based on what he had done. He made a deal with the devil himself for God only knows what, and had refused to give up his own "precious" soul. So he'd given up his only daughter instead. To be Lucifer's queen of all things (though what the logic behind that was, she didn't know). Of all the alternatives she had to marry him.
Arianna didn't even have any say in when she would be taken, much less anything else. There were only minutes left now, before Lucifer showed. He was due on her twenty-third birthday, 3:01 am on January the nineteenth. She wished there was something she could do except wait, but there wasn't a single thing. All she could do was wait for her nightmare to show up.
She heard the beeping of her watch signaling that it was three in the morning. One minute left and he would be here. She paced back and forth nervously, shaking her hands slightly as if she were drying them off after washing them. Arianna was fearful, and for a good reason. In one minute she was going to marry the devil himself.
She glanced down at her watch after what felt like an eternity of worried walking. 3:27 in the morning. He was due 26 minutes ago- Lucifer was almost a half an hour late! Her apprehension grew with each passing second. Arianna glanced at her watch again in agitation. Three more minutes had passed and she was starting to think that he would never show.
She was just starting to breathe a sigh of relief when there was a sudden tap on her shoulder. In truth, not that she had been aware, Lucifer had been there since the time he was supposed to have shown. Just unseen by the girl he had come to collect. He smirked to himself when she screamed bloody murder- but he didn't count on her whirling around and punching him straight in the nose. Damn, that actually surprised him, which didn't happen very often. It didn't hurt, but when he lifted up his hand to his nose, there were a few smeared drops of very dark red blood.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Arianna fumed, clearly agitated. "You're late! And then you sneak up on me? Jesus Christ I knew you'd be an asshole Lucifer, but you really are a great big bag of dicks!"
Lucifer missed that reference completely, and had no idea what on earth she was talking about. He was a great big bag of Richards? It made no sense, he'd never heard that phrase before, but he knew it was an insult, especially if she was saying that it was worse than being an asshole. And of course she could always be talking about a literal dick, as in the slang word for either penis, jerk, or both. And being called an asshole was bad enough. It was true and he knew it, but still- to have his future wife insult him? He wouldn't stand for it. He needed to put this insolent child in her place.
"I would watch your tone with me missy, before I smite you where you stand," he growled. He was quite beyond pissed off.
"Oh I dare you," Arianna rolled her eyes. "In fact I'd let you kill me all you want, if it weren't for the fact that due to the deal I'd still end up in Hell anyways. Just for a very different purpose."
"Mm, you're right, you would. You'd be tortured rather than the torturer, and I'm sure I can come up with a very nasty punishment for you- unless of course, you apologize for insulting me."
"I'm not apologizing for anything. You were late, and you snuck up on me. You deserved the punch and every word that followed. Now of course, if you were to apologize, I'd consider saying it myself. But you and I both know you won't," she snorted in amusement.
"For one, I wasn't late. I showed up exactly at 3:01 when I was supposed to. I merely didn't reveal myself to you. But honestly with the subtle increase in room temperature you should've noticed my presence. And for two, I can't sneak up on you if I was here the whole time. I only tapped your shoulder to alert you to my arrival. It's not my fault you were so deep in thought you got scared," he smirked in reply. This was going to be fun, toying around with her.
"I wasn't scared," she muttered and crossed her arms. Of course, she was lying to him, who wouldn't've been scared? A touch from out of nowhere when you're expecting the devil to come and drag you to Hell. You'd be insane to not be terrified of that.
"I can tell you're fibbing dear," He drawled, sighing. "I'm the father of lies and deceit. You can't exactly get away with it around me. I can always tell whether you like it or not."
"Oh just go to Hell!" she snapped, though really, it wouldn't do much good for her to have said that. He lived in Hell, he'd be more than happy to go back, she was sure.
"Gladly," Lucifer smirked. His little pet was quite the feisty one- Arianna would be very hard to break in. Much like a prized stallion, he relished the challenge of taming her and bending the girl to his will. "But of course, you do have to come with me, you know."
Arianna sighed as he reminded her of her fate. She was so not looking forward to this. She was still scared, and she didn't know what was going to happen. How did a marriage like this even work, anyways? Like a normal one, or was it different? Was it like a Satanic ritual with sacrifices and blood or did it involve vows and white gowns? Nobody knew, and certainly not her. Would Lucifer himself even know what to do, or would he make it up as he went?
Arianna stopped her train of thought, or rather, it was rudely stopped for her by a contract shoved up under her nose. She stared at it for a moment. Was that seriously it? She was going to get married, in her pajamas, by signing a faded and yellowed piece of paper? It was old, she could tell, she could practically smell the dust and mustiness.
"You know what to do with this," Lucifer said brusquely, handing over a pen. When she took it she noticed the warmth. "Sign it."
The warmth emanated from the pen and she soon found out why. As soon as she scrawled her name, Arianna Lynn Jones, she felt slightly dizzy at the sight of the paper. It had used what looked very much like her own blood for the ink, reminiscent of the quill from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
When she was done she stared at Lucifer, just stared at him, getting a good and proper look. He seemed to tower over her, at a little over six feet he was damn near a whole foot taller. Arianna didn't even reach five and a half. Their looks contrasted even more than day and night. Or in this case, Heaven and Hell. Which was which... well, that was certainly up for debate. Her hair was frizzy and a dull mousy brown, his was in a blonde ponytail with not a single hair out of place, despite the rubberband being loose. It wasn't fair, like a lot of things about this situation. The eyes however, were very different, and she did not envy Lucifer for his. Arianna had nice deep cloudy blue eyes, she always looked like she was daydreaming or deep in thought. His eyes however were a rusty sort of bright red, and he looked eternally pissed off. He probably was.
And while she was thin and wiry (but strong and a bit athletic looking from years of contemporary dance) Lucifer was toned and very obviously masculine. He looked like your typical jock, or maybe a band member. With that thought Arianna found herself wondering if he had any hobbies, if he had any humanity, or if he just tortured people. Probably the latter, much as she despised that. She did still hope he had a shred of the angel he used to be, just a sliver left in him, enough that he found other things to occupy his time enjoyable. Maybe reading perhaps, or a favorite movie. Much the way Arianna herself danced, it helped her feel free.
There was a hand waving in front of her face and Lucifer smirked at her, very much amused. What was his new bride thinking about so deeply? He didn't really care so much as found it childish that she was so easily lost in her mind, like the way a young one daydreams in their least favorite class in school. The former Angel never went to school of course, having been created with all the knowledge he would ever need, and anything else he just sort of learned along the way. That was the way Heaven worked.
Heaven, he snorted, the word leaving a bitter taste in his mouth. Disgusting. He hated that place, he certainly didn't want to go back. He was fond of Hell now. He pretended to himself he didn't miss his siblings. He couldn't miss his siblings, they were angels. And he wasn't. Well, he was, but not quite the angel he used to be. He was glad for that.
Lucifer held out his arm for Arianna to take and she stared at it with disdain. She didn't want to go. She hated him, she hated everything about him, and she just wanted to stay home. But she knew she couldn't, so she very gingerly held onto his arm, the other hand holding a couple bags full of things she had packed. When she arrived in Hell (breathless and dizzy from teleportation) Lucifer grinned. The bags were gone, she imagined they were probably in whatever room she was staying in.
"Don't worry darling you'll get used to that soon enough," he chuckled.
Arianna flipped him off in response. "You should've warned me that might happen!" she snapped. Everything he was doing was just pissing her off more.
"Oh come now, don't be like that, everybody reacts differently. Maybe you're just fragile," Lucifer teased, but it was more mocking than playful.
"I'm not fragile," she muttered, clenching her fists. She was strong. She knew she was strong, she had to be. Her body was used to years and years of dance and by god she was strong.
Lucifer knew she was too. He could see it in the way she held herself, defiant and stubborn. Oh she would make an excellent queen. Excellent to break too, but maybe he wouldn't do that. Maybe he enjoyed the fighting too much to want a submissive wife. It would get boring after awhile.
"Maybe you are, maybe you're not. Do have a good punch though," he shrugged, still grinning. He liked making her mad. It was fun.
"Oh yeah? Want me to try again? I can break your nose," Arianna offered in an icy tone. She was just itching to hit him again. He infuriated her, and she knew he was doing it on purpose.
"Nah, I quite rather like my face the way it is," he mused, crossing his arms. "Anyways, shall I show you to our room?"
Lucifer watched as her face fell. He couldn't help but laugh at her reaction to his words, it was priceless.
"O-Our...?" She pursed her lips, chewing on the inside of the bottom one. Their room? There was no way she would ever be able to sleep if Lucifer was in the bed next to her. Arianna would fight for her own room if she had to.
"Yes, our room. No, you can't have your own. We're married now darling," he said with mock gentleness, the way a doctor would break the bad news that someone's loved one had just passed away. But he didn't mean it. He was teasing her, and by the look on Ari's face, she knew it.
"I honestly don't care if we're married or not," she muttered. "I don't want to share a room with you, and I shouldn't have to. We just met. Plus, you're Satan. Who knows what you would do to me in my sleep."
Lucifer acted a bit hurt. To be honest, he was offended. He may be the devil but Arianna was his, anybody who dared lay a finger on her pretty little head would find themselves without their own. "Oh darling, I would never hurt you, and any demon who does will certainly feel my wrath."
Arianna opened her mouth to say something but no words came out. She was confused more than anything, and a bit angered. She figured that maybe he just saw her as his property and that was the reason nobody could touch her. Plus, she could take care of herself. Probably.
In truth it was a bit because Lucifer considered her belonging to him. He really did think that. But she was also Hell's queen, and his queen would more than likely have an assassination attempt. To him, they were annoying, as they've had several. But he couldn't let her die, because then he'd probably have to search out a new queen, and he didn't feel like looking.