LUCIFER HAD BEEN hurt many times in his existence though nothing quite compared to this.

As soon as the girl denied knowing him - as soon as Melanie fucking Cooper said she had no clue who he was - he couldn't help but recoil slightly.

How could she not remember him? How could she just forget? 

He knew of illnesses that gradually corrupted the mortal mind, chipping away memories like shards off an iceberg. One moment there and the next, nothing. Lucifer was no fool - he knew how easily such an illness could have severed her memories of him. Memories such as their time together in the Beyond as well as the years following her accident it seemed...

But still.

He was Lucifer, for Hell's sake.

"Melanie..." he began, frowning. "What do you-"

"What I mean is that I have no idea who you are." She stuck out her chin. "At all." 

"I... What?" Louis was lost for words, something he was unaccustomed to. 

Melanie would have made a comment about his being speechless, how it was a gift that he had finally gone silent. If only she could remember him. If she could just recall their times together, the bond they shared and how in a manner of speaking, they were one in the same.

They had never been in love. Louis had made his feelings quite clear and so had Melanie, several times in fact. It had felt necessary, especially after the occasional raunchy evening they had spent together. Nothing had changed emotionally for either of them; they both knew where the other stood. It was a blessing in a way, for Louis to have met his equal, someone who wanted nothing more and nothing less than he did. After all, he had meant what he'd said to her that night of her senior prom so many decades ago: he would never allow such emotions to consume him again.

However, that did not mean he cared for her any less and perhaps if things were different, if he were mortal, they could have tried.

Melanie had even mentioned that to him once. He had laughed with her about it but the thought hadn't left his mind for weeks after. Would something happen between them if they were equal? If they were some how more compatible?

Well, she is now but she doesn't bloody remember me, Louis thought bitterly. Typical.

"Maybe I'm not being clear enough?" he began and cleared his throat. "You do know me, even if you think you don't. Here, things work differently. Time works differently, as do memories. I explained this all to you once before." He paused. "When you had your accident."

Surely, that wasn't something she'd forgotten? How could someone forget a near death experience? Lucifer recalled her mentioning it made quite the interesting dinner table story, much to her mother's disapproval. 

Something flickered in Melanie's eyes, a brief twitch that had Louis holding his breath.

C'mon Cooper, he wanted to say. Remember me.

"My accident..." she murmured. "How do you know about my accident?"

"When you crashed that car into that tree and then you woke up in the hospital, can you remember what happened in between that time?"

"I... I was unconscious." She narrowed her eyes at him. "Nothing happened - I was dead for several minutes the doctors told me."

Louis grinned. "And thanks to the one and only me, you didn't die. Think. Think really hard and tell me ... what happened between then?"

Lucifer watched as Melanie thought hard. He could tell she was struggling by the way her lips pursed and brow furrowed in that way when she was concentrating. 

He wanted to pat her on the head and make fun of her for it but somehow he didn't think that would go down too well.

It was so typical, he thought, to have waited seventy damn years for a woman, only for her not to have a clue who he was in the end. It was actually quite insulting!

Melanie remained silent, oblivious still.

Louis, completely frustrated, couldn't hold back any longer. "You don't remember me? I must say, I'm a little disappointed. Who just forgets someone as devilishly handsome and witty such as myself?"

Even using their inside jokes didn't help her repressed memories. Louis huffed. He wasn't stupid, he knew how things worked in the Beyond - Hell, he'd been there long enough - but there still remained a part of him that was hopeful. 

"My heart is breaking, it honestly is!" he continued. "This definitely isn't the way I expected our reunion to go - I was hoping for some cheeky lip action or maybe one of your sarcastic comments." He moved closer until they were within each others' breathing space. 

I missed her so damn much, he thought as he grinned at her confused expression. It was that particular look that reminded him of the very first time she had landed in the Beyond. He looked from her eyes to her lips. "So, c'mon Melanie Cooper ... tell me how you've missed a guy with no dick."

Smack!

Melanie struck him again. At first, he was too surprised to say anything but then he just laughed. There was that fire he'd associated with the one and only Melanie Cooper! At least that flame hadn't died in the seventy years they had been apart.

Melanie scowled and pointed a finger at him. "How dare you?!" she shrieked. "You insolent little boy!"

"Insolent little-?"

"The audacity! Who do you think you are to speak to me in such a vulgar way? I'm old enough to be your grandmother!"

"You... Ah." Louis cleared his throat. Idiot, he thought. "I know what's going on now. Melanie, you need to trust me."

"Trust you?" she laughed. "I don't think so."

"Until your memories return, you're not going to remember who I am or anything that happened between us. And you're not stupid - I know you're confused and scared and have many, many questions. Like why you look the way you did when you were eighteen?"

"I..." Melanie trailed off, her eyes dropping momentarily to the finger she still had angled towards him. "How I look?"

Louis nodded. "When you closed your eyes last, you were elderly. When you woke up here, you were young. Yes?"

Melanie's hand lowered. "How did you-?"

"How did I know that? Because I'm the reason you're here. How do I know about you, your name, your accident? So many questions you want answered, so I guess the only thing you have right now, is me."

Lucifer tried his best not to smile as she glared at him. Oh, she wasn't best pleased and especially not at the idea that her only hope was him. Funny, considering that once she had been overjoyed to spend time with him. Louis couldn't wait for her memories to come flooding back, for their banter to finally continue and a decent catch up to commence. It had been so long since they had spoke and it had felt like eternity, even for Louis who was used to waiting years in isolation.

"Say I do decide to trust you," Melanie began, crossing her arms over her chest, "it doesn't change the fact that we don't know each other."

Louis smiled. "Oh, on the contrary, I think it will."

Melanie's scowl deepened.

HE WAS NOT so threatening, after all. 

Melanie was still shaking but not because of this Louis character who had seemingly appeared out of thin air. She was actually thankful to find someone else stuck in this strange place with her, even if it was a stranger. The fact he didn't at all seem phased at the strange surroundings reassured her that perhaps there wasn't anything to fear in this strange place he had called The Beyond.

But who was he and why was he so adamant that they knew each other?

It was, as he had said, one of the many questions she had but not the most pressing one. She still had to find her family and discover the truth about this place. There was a small part of her that had a suspicion Louis was telling the truth, that he was who he said he was and this black and white world was some mysterious realm that she had once visited before.

But surely that had all been a dream? Like the recurring one she had had when she was younger, of the strange man in black. 

She looked Louis up and down. He wore black, head to toe.

Was he the man from her dreams? No, he couldn't be because this wasn't a dream. It all felt too real. He knew such personal things about her and there was that feeling of déjà vu she couldn't quite shake.

"If I ask you questions, will you answer them honestly?" Melanie asked.

Louis nodded. "Yes. Always."

"What is this place? Be honest."

Louis sighed deeply. "This is the Beyond, the place you end up if you pass before your time. Usually because of an accident or an attempted murder ... that sort of fun stuff!

"It's the World between the living and dead, if you will. Here, lost souls wander until I find them and offer them a deal. The deal being: I shall immediately restore their soul to their body and they'll continue to live a long and healthy life until the time comes that they finally pass. If they agree to my offer, I claim their soul in the afterlife. If they decline my offer and don't want to offer their soul to do my bidding, they shall remain dead. Then it's a fifty-fifty chance on where they end up going.

"It's either to Heaven, where the big tosser up there fans them with palm leaves and feeds them grapes from a silver platter for being such a good little sport." Louis rolled his eyes. "Or they go to Hell, where they inevitably end up doing my bidding if they like it or not. Depends on whether they've been good or bad in their life span."

Melanie just stared at him.

He stared right back.

"So this is the waiting area, basically?"

"Precisely!"

"For if you've died before your time?"

"Yes."

"So I'm dead?" Melanie asked, her bottom lip trembling.

"I - yes. I've already told you that, Melanie. Try to keep up!" Louis clapped his hands like he were talking to a child. He must have read the look on her face because he cleared his throat and tried again. "Yes, you are dead Melanie. However, you are in the process of waiting for your memories to return."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, what's the last thing you remember? It's all a bit fuzzy, isn't it? That's because while your soul leaves your body and passes to the Beyond, it takes a little time for your memories to follow suit. It's the same when you end up here the first time, the time I offer you the deal."

"But you've not offered me the deal," she protested. "Are you saying ... are you telling me that the last time I was apparently here, I agreed to give you my soul?"

He nodded. "Yes. Your accident, the car crash? You were eighteen and ended up here. I waited with you while your memories returned. Your friend Michael also showed up after an ... unfortunate ... stabbing incident." 

Melanie raised a brow. His tone indicated he wasn't being sincere. 

But sudden flashes of that night cut across her vision. Her friend Rachel and her boyfriend Kaleb. The bright lights of the racing car, drinks and arms holding her while the world spun around her.

Louis' face came into view and she gasped as the sudden flash of memories snapped within her.

"I would be lying if I said this place isn't familiar," she finally admitted. "As soon as I woke up, I felt like I'd been here, or at least somewhere similar. I can't place when or where but..."

Louis nodded, encouragingly. "It'll come. You'll remember everything soon enough."

"When I remember, will it be everything?"

Louis chuckled like he knew a secret she didn't. "Oh, yes. Well," he paused and stared blankly off into the distance, "I fucking hope so because there was this debate we used to have continuously and one day I finally proved you wrong. I hope that's one of the first things you remember first actually..."

Melanie just stared at him as he babbled on. What was he on about?

"It must have been an important debate," she stupidly said.

"Oh, it was, Melanie." He grinned. "It was."

A silence fell and Melanie shuddered. Whatever this Beyond place actually was, it was a chilly one. With a glance at her arms, she found goose bumps forming and to Hell if she was going to remain out in the cold which she waited for who knows how long for her memories to snap back into place.

"I'm going back inside," she announced and spun on her heel to march back into the hospital.

She could feel his eyes on her as she moved and not a second later, his footsteps fell into sync with her own. He caught up to her in no time, grinning at her wickedly. Melanie knew it wouldn't take a genius to know how egotistical this guy was.

"You're a very confident young man," she commented as they rounded the corner and walked through the sliding doors. "Some would assume arrogant."

"I am arrogant," he confirmed. "But I'm so good looking that I can pass it off as confidence."

Melanie scoffed. "That is a big red flag for the ladies."

"You liked it back in the day," he commented.

Melanie paused and turned to face him. "I highly doubt that."

"And I highly doubt your doubt."

Before she could reply, he held his hand out towards her. Melanie hesitated, glancing back and forth between his face and hand, debating if it was a good idea to trust him at all. He was a stranger after all, no matter how much a small part of her begged her to trust him.

Trust him, the voice seemed to whisper over and over. Trust, trust, trust.

Melanie had had the same string of thoughts when she had met Gregory, her late husband. Her life had been sweet for a short period of time; they had been blessed with two beautiful children, been financially stable and shared a love stronger than anything she had ever experienced previously. But that had been short lived once Greg had found a new love for alcohol. 

Everything had went down hill because she had been willing to trust.

Louis seemed to sense her hesitation and when he asked her, "What have you got to lose?" she realised that there was nothing, absolutely nothing. If he was to be believed and she truly was dead, there was nothing she could lose.

Her soul had been claimed and that was that.

She nodded before placing her hand in his. "You're right."

"I always am."

"Arrogant," she rebuked.

"Confident," he retaliated. 

"Whatever."

"That's what I thought," he chuckled as he swung their arms like an old married couple. "I'm afraid that all we can do for the time being is wait."

"For my memories?" 

"Yes. Because you've been here before and you're actually dead this time, it shouldn't take too long. It should come back in short bursts and then all at once. Funny how everyone is different; some people land here after death and have every memory resorted instantly and then there are some who are here for days."

"Days?!" Melanie gasped. "I'll be stuck here for days?"

"Not necessarily. You died from cancer Melanie but you had severe dementia, so it's not surprising your memories are all over the place."

"What actually happens when I remember? If you've claimed my soul, does that mean I'm your ... slave?"

Louis barked a laugh. "Technically. But you get special treatment because you're my pal. You'll remember it all soon enough but we were actually really close friends back in the day."

Melanie was astonished. "I was friends with the Devil?" 

"Yes, yes you were."

"Were?" Melanie questioned, frowning at him. "Were we not later in life?"

Louis paused. Something flashed across his face - pain? He swallowed hard and gave her another grin, though it seemed half-hearted, forced. "We ... lost touch."

"How?" she pressed.

He looked away. "You'll remember soon," was all he said.

"OK," Melanie replied quietly, taking the hint. It was obviously a touchy subject for him. 

What had happened between them? Had she said or done something? Had he? Melanie pondered how many ways there could be to piss off the Devil, how a mere mortal girl could cause him some sort of hurt. "I'm sorry if I hurt you."

"So am I," he replied.

They walked in silence to the second floor, hands still swaying. His hand was warm and just enveloped hers. She still found it strange to see her youthful, slightly chubby fingers again after so long. 

"How am I young again?" she asked.

"At the time you give your soul to me, when you pass over and into my care for real, your soul restores your physical form at the time the deal was finalised."

"So if I had been thirty when I'd agreed, I'd have reappeared here how I was at that age?"

Louis nodded. "Yes. It's a funny system in the Beyond. Even I don't know why some things work the way they do and I've been here for a very long bloody time."

"Like the waiting time for memories?"

"Exactly," Louis said. "It always confuses me because surely people will know there and then whether they want to live or die, regardless of their situation. But I suppose knowing how you died plays a big part in it."

"No shit," Melanie scoffed.

Louis just laughed. "There she is," he joked. "Swearing like a trooper once again, that's the Melanie I remember."

"I'm surprised I don't recall having met you before. I mean ... it's not every day you meet the Devil."

"My thoughts exactly," Louis mused. He sounded annoyed and Melanie couldn't help but chuckle. He obviously deemed himself extremely important if her not remembering him was enough to make him whine like a toddler.

"Bruised your ego, have I?"

"No, not at all. More like your dementia has. How dare it wipe me from your memories? I bet this is His doing, just one punishment after another."

"His doing?" Melanie questioned. She looked up. "You mean God?"

Louis cringed - physically cringed - at the name and Melanie couldn't help but laugh.

"Oh my God," she cackled, "grow up."

Louis stared her dead in the face and said, "I hate you. Always have, always will," before marching off like a child in the middle of a tantrum. 

Thanks for reading! I currently don't have an updating schedule but the bare minimum I can promise is one chapter a month because I'm a busy bee. Let me know your thoughts below! Favourite part/line of the chapter?
Cazza